seashells and collectors
and foam that licks the sand
off their heels. I am treading water,
a heathen of my heart,
silence to my chatter
~
here the spirit of a sailor tarries,
there lies confirmation
here stands a fortress,
there communion beckons
an angler rocks back and forth –
it is cast:
the pagan sea and a believer
~
if he engulfed me whole,
the Ruler of the Sea would steer
his wild chariot away,
leave the curious sky untamed,
sacrifice its storm clouds to the breaker
~
horses of the sea, halt the cart and
raise me up –
I will cast my shell ashore.
Belgian writer-activist Bénédicte Kusendila lives with music and her children in the Flemish countryside. She started out at her Nan's kitchen table, became a member of the Afrikaans Skrywersvereniging (Writers Association) many years later but now mostly writes in and translates into English. Sewn In Red, her debut collection, was published in 2017 by American Rad Press Publishing. Her haiku, poems and short stories have appeared in various publications such as the Asahi Shimbun, Presence, Extract(s), Gambling The Aisle, Gravel Literary Journal, Hawai'i Pacific Review, Adanna, The Bangalore Review, Beyond Words, Littéra Tour, Aji Magazine, and more. Maintenant, leading journal of contemporary DADA art and creative writing, has included her work annually since 2020. In the summer of 2023, she was Artist In Residence at Olympic National Park in Washington state. She then toured Western Europe as part of Maintenant's Peacefire collective. Bénédicte was shortlisted for the 2024 Bridport Prize for Poetry, she was named Poetry Super Highway "Poet of The Week" and performed at the New York Public Library's International DADA Salon with Three Rooms Press.
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