"Full of Flame", "Missing the Mark" & "Deepness" by Amanda Niamh Dawson

Full of Flame

A heart

A mind

My beloved’s name

Train your brain

To count the steps

To sense terrain

If a cobra strikes

It wins the game

Love’s wars can weary

Even the most steadfast 

Of aims

If pilots flicker

Tenderness withers

Royalty fades

When goodness slithers

Tiny beating heart

Moth shot with a dart

Intentions torn apart

A flame cupped by two

Can banish creeping rue

The hazel can tempt any fire

But divided hearts in its path

Get reconciled

To matters higher

Missing the Mark

There’s more here

Than meets the eye

Troubleshooting 

Darts fly

The musk of a rose,

Tender

The notes of a wren,

Trill

Words are plenty

Wisdom scarce

Eyes see through water

But sight is cursed

We see no messages in matter

Too quick to rip roses to scatter

Showering fame’s blank ways

While hearts unheard

Weep

Pitter-patter

Deepness

Caveats full of fury. Blessings sweet. Days are dreary. Dive deeper. Try harder. Be better. 

Driving down into ditches. I hope the car lurches. But it won’t. Cause I’m meant to do more. Be more. Say more. Feel more. 

Batches of boredom. Butchered hearts. Dumpsters full of used up parts. Resourceful, canny arts.

Dare I go there? Stairways lead there. Spirals of them. As far as you can see. Once you look down, no longer are you free.

Bridge the gap. Stay centered. The diplomat. Two sides of the coin. Conjoined. Rejoice, your choice.

Better still, diving into wells. Free falling. Full of wishes. Vanishing thoughts. Souls skipping. Be thankful for what you’ve got.

Come up for air, from oceans deep. Snows melt away. You’ll be yourself. Shallows damned. Shine forth from darkest shadows. Moon streaks on black ground.

I’m reaching as I’m falling.

Deepness knows no bounds.

Amanda Niamh Dawson is a new poet, writing about botany and space, and where they collide sometimes. Her son is teaching her about synthetic biology, making her reconsider the wild landscape in which they dwell in rural Northern California. She is gripped by rhyme in her poetry - a shared love with her rapper husband. Work has appeared recently in The Ulu Review, The Piker Press, Illumen, and Hudson Valley Writers Guild.