Between Stem and Chaff

By: CM Pickard

Expectations flutter

over stalks rippling in currents

of an autumn breeze; hands

hold fast to glittering dreams

on a vast horizon

and so time is spent counting husks,

from a season of labour

between stem and chaff

reflecting on where it began;

a reimagining of years

awaiting sprouts under sun’s warmth

of years tending to others’ needs,

climbing rungs until breath is spent

harvesting vacant fields

furrows stretch beyond the first steps

following the blade’s first strike;

settling between wind and earth

if time permits,

before a window closes.

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CM Pickard is a self-proclaimed late bloomer, living in Melbourne, Australia. Her poetry was shortlisted in The Letter Review Prize for Poetry and SWWV’s Kathryn Purnell Poetry Prize, appeared in Soul Poetry, Prose & Arts Magazine, The Raven Review, and elsewhere.