Two more poems from Ali Cobby Eckermann

love

we fight as enemies
and when children die
we gather gestures of peace

bereavement is blindness
our grief like dense smoke
that stings our eyes

love is the protest
against the hurt inflicted
on everyone I love today

regression

You have made me the child
I was always afraid
you would become

how will I forgive you
how will you forgive me
how do I forgive myself?

from The Aura of Loss
Little Windows Press, Adelaide 2017