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Poetry | May 2020

Dragonfly Daughter

By Trish Hopkinson

I’m a martyr, spoke the dragonfly
into the tepid evening air, her words

cut through by swarms of gnats near our heads.
That is what she meant / she accepted

martyrdom as her plight, as I / her daughter,
no longer a nymph, oding before her

as if I expected something other
than the transparency of her wings;

my mandibles as serrated as my remarks
about the life she chose—she flies backwards.

We could have both been twenty then.
I was twenty, the evening sky wide

balanced and agile in the air—I knew I’d never
be / never utter / I’m a martyr / to my own

daughter—her larvae nine years
in the making, like the nine months

my mother claimed it took to make me
when she herself was only twenty. Married

in August / born in March / finally
I did the math. Seven months—

dragonflies only survive
for seven months.

She couldn’t be twenty. I’m twenty.
Our heads heavy with sight—

all eyes, seeing in every direction,
what came before, what will happen next,

who’s flying beside us now—the maddening
whine of a mosquito sends me into a dive

close to the earth as I watch my mother
hover above me, too timid to swoop.

Tagged: May 2018

7 replies on “Dragonfly Daughter”

Jill Sharon Kimmelmansays:
May 23, 2020 at 12:07 am

I LOVE this poem, Trish!!!

“I was twenty
the evening sky wide…”

Just one of two many marvelous lines to number

Thank you very much for sharing this poem with your many many friends and family…we have hundreds of reasons to celebrate you

Peace,
Jill

Reply
Trish L Hopkinsonsays:
May 23, 2020 at 9:03 am

Thanks Aunt Jill!

Reply
Smithasays:
May 30, 2020 at 1:33 am

Such a beautiful poem. The imagery is outdtanding

Reply
Trish L Hopkinsonsays:
May 31, 2020 at 8:22 am

Thank you for reading!

Reply
Kathy Lundy Derengowskisays:
December 5, 2020 at 10:37 pm

“She couldn’t be twenty. I’m twenty.”- Brilliant!

Reply
Kashiana Singhsays:
December 6, 2020 at 2:29 pm

all eyes, seeing in every direction! My breathtaking poem

Reply
Santoshsays:
December 7, 2020 at 10:00 am

What a poem !

Reply

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