This selection, chosen by guest editor nat raum, is from A Few Mythic Paths by Mari Ness (Porkbelly Press, 2024).
LAURELS
Sometimes the memories come in the rain:
the cry of voices, the play of dolls,
the taste of honey, the chill of springs —
the feral dancing, breast to breast,
the shining menace of the archer’s bow —
the wild spinning swirling seizing winds,
the cold soft mud stealing their feet,
the rough salt winds laughing at their newborn leaves.
Raindrops serve as mortal tears, though
they shake and laugh, and laugh and shake,
push their roots into earth so deep,
and reach out branches to sister mortals, sister trees,
the caress of leaves so sweet, so sweet —
so much more than the touch of gods.
Mari Ness lives in central Florida, and has sometimes been spotted talking to live oak trees. Other work appears in multiple zines and anthologies, including Reactor, Clarkesworld, Uncanny, LIghtspeed, Nightmare, Nature Futures, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Baffling, Strange Horizons and Haven Spec. Mari has also been a finalist for the Hugo and Canopus Awards, and won the 2021 Outwrite Fiction Award.arious awards, including the Rhysling, Dwarf Stars, Elgin and Canopus.
nat raum (b. 1996) is a queer disabled artist, writer, and editor based on unceded Piscataway and Susquehannock land in Baltimore. They hold an MFA from the University of Baltimore and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Past and upcoming publishers of their work include Poet Lore, beestung, Baltimore Beat, Split Lip Magazine, BRUISER, and others. Find them online at natraum.com.
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