Isobel Weder
Reach down
All the good stuff is hidden deep
Really get in there
You won’t find it sifting the surface
Pray that it is something good,
Beautiful, raw, unpolished
But palatable
Make it for refined tastes
You still reaching?
This can’t be just from the head
Too much sense will make the children weep and student’s yawn
Reach down where it is dark and wholly murky
Down past the throat
This isn’t something to spit out at a moment’s notice,
A regurgitation of thoughts past consumed,
Something so far gone you can barely taste it on your tongue
Bypass the heart
It’s not yet beat to anything of worth
Besides, anything coming from there can’t be whole
Only fragments, long ago shattered
Reach down to your stomach
That is where it all lies, slowly digesting
Slowly absorbed into your being
Now you can start searching
Here you find the butterflies
Kaleidoscopic flurries you have lived with for too long
Wave them away
The same way you have done time and time again
And there it is!
I knew it would be there
For a second you doubted me
Funny how you always do that
Now, grasp it just so
Not so firmly that it is forced out, crushed beyond recognition
Not so gently that it slips away, never to be felt again
Coax it out in that way you fall in love, slowly and then all at once
Now, bring it out into the open
Your treasure, cup it in two full hands
Don’t forget to inspect it closely for lumps and bumps and other unseemly things
Is this what you had hoped for?
Now, without thinking
Show it to the world
Isobel is a Brisbane-based Architecture student and dabbling writer. Her work explores themes of nature, memory, and belonging with elements of absurdism scattered throughout. She features prominently in a local bar near you on the constant lookout for groovy music and cool cocktails.