POETRY CORNER - #1

My Recovery is a Painting by Catherine Hannah

To start I select a gentle lilac

and add my first splash of colour

to a canvas that fills the whole sky.

I don’t like the hue. I add

dark and light

until the result is more to my taste.

I gain confidence

a rosy pink; a rich purple

I am unstoppable

and before I realise what I am doing a black scar tears across

my hard work.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I have to wait until it dries until I repair it and

it turns out that watching paint dry

is like watching paint dry

so in the meantime my laser beam of a critical eye

hovers an inch from the surface and questions

every single decision I’ve made

up to this point.

I add more layers

juicy peach and orange; a flash of yellow-

and nothing changes.

With each little insignificant stroke my

paintbrush becomes lost in the waxing and waning

and waxing and waning

of the moon.

But it is happening

deep in the endless prism I am finding my way

I must have taken a step back

because from here

each bitter, black scar is a stepping stone.

From here I gaze upon

this landscape of lines and swirls and dots and I

see me. Here. Now

and everything that came before.

It’s not finished and

I don’t think it ever will be. But

behind the canvas I can finally see the horizon

and my painting melts

into the rising sun.

We'll be sharing some more of Catherine's work soon. But, in the meanwhile, head over to her site and socials:

Fancy sending us something to publish? Just email us at geelongcereal@gmail.com. Also, we have a comment section below, so plop something in there if you feel like it, maybe there is something in Catherine's poem that resonates with you.

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