What Makes This Sacred
Siobhan Casey | Poetry, Fall 2024
Is the hundred ways
of expressing joy.
No need to tiptoe
down hallways
(hushed) in search of half
cracked eggs.
You can sit in the sun for an hour
before the day begins.
You can offer your hand to the cat
as she stretches
her body into light.
All day you can breathe
the way the oar moves,
one long motion
in and out of the Allegheny River.
You can fill the tea kettle
and wait for steam to sing,
for the water
to be poured into a mug.
There is certainty
attached to ritual:
clinking spoon, stir and mix of honey.
The ceramic weighs
heavy in your hands,
but if you were to drop it,
there would be many
ways of mending.
______________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“This poem began as a meditation on what makes anything sacred but quickly evolved into a reckoning with the sorrows that inevitably appeared beside my newfound happiness as a mother and artist (both beautiful and invisible roles). Much like a fossil, this was an elusive poem I dug to find, a letter from the past self to the present one, offering permission to be fully present and authentic. And I extend that to the reader: permission has been granted to walk on those eggshells we usually tiptoe around, to pause instead of hurrying out the door, and to let go of the illusion we can preserve all that is sacred and dear to us in its original form. Like the ceramic mug that might break, the losses we experience are not permanent. What looks like brokenness can become art, voice, and pure presence.”
Siobhan Casey earned her MFA from Chatham University in 2011 where she worked as an editor for The Fourth River literary magazine. Her chapbook, Three Fourths of a Dream, was published in 2016 and her most recent work has appeared in Stoneboat Literary Journal, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Mud Season Review, and Up the Staircase Quarterly. She loves photography and painting and is in her last semester of an Inclusive Elementary Education program. She spends her free time coffee shop hopping, hiking with her family, or simply taking a breath by the water.
What Makes This Sacred
Siobhan Casey | Poetry, Fall 2024
Is the hundred ways
of expressing joy.
No need to tiptoe
down hallways
(hushed) in search of half
cracked eggs.
You can sit in the sun for an hour
before the day begins.
You can offer your hand to the cat
as she stretches
her body into light.
All day you can breathe
the way the oar moves,
one long motion
in and out of the Allegheny River.
You can fill the tea kettle
and wait for steam to sing,
for the water
to be poured into a mug.
There is certainty
attached to ritual:
clinking spoon, stir and mix of honey.
The ceramic weighs
heavy in your hands,
but if you were to drop it,
there would be many
ways of mending.
________________________________________________________________________
Why is this piece your Trace Fossil?
“This poem began as a meditation on what makes anything sacred but quickly evolved into a reckoning with the sorrows that inevitably appeared beside my newfound happiness as a mother and artist (both beautiful and invisible roles). Much like a fossil, this was an elusive poem I dug to find, a letter from the past self to the present one, offering permission to be fully present and authentic. And I extend that to the reader: permission has been granted to walk on those eggshells we usually tiptoe around, to pause instead of hurrying out the door, and to let go of the illusion we can preserve all that is sacred and dear to us in its original form. Like the ceramic mug that might break, the losses we experience are not permanent. What looks like brokenness can become art, voice, and pure presence.”
Siobhan Casey earned her MFA from Chatham University in 2011 where she worked as an editor for The Fourth River literary magazine. Her chapbook, Three Fourths of a Dream, was published in 2016 and her most recent work has appeared in Stoneboat Literary Journal, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Mud Season Review, and Up the Staircase Quarterly. She loves photography and painting and is in her last semester of an Inclusive Elementary Education program. She spends her free time coffee shop hopping, hiking with her family, or simply taking a breath by the water.