Quest
No chain mail for breakfast,
no syrup, no toast, just white light
bleeding from ships that scud past
the shore, dragging me into a chasm of thought.
Yoga & meditation tamper the running stream.
An axe won’t alter my course like an ex,
but chopping will curse & bless the memory
of beautiful befores—crowns of all I ever did
& ever wanted. I aim to write for writing’s sake,
to savor snow & sea shadow & never change
my passwords, but I forget them as swiftly
as I forget first names & the last day it rained.
Life’s not a race but an unpeeling of layers
that reveals at its core a sweet kernel—
acceptance—& with it, something more.
*
Susan Michele Coronel lives in New York City. She has received two Pushcart nominations and won the 2023 Massachusetts Poetry Festival First Poem Contest. Her poems have appeared in publications including Spillway 29, Plainsongs, Redivider, and Fourteen Hills. In 2021 her full-length manuscript was a finalist for Harbor Editions’ Laureate Prize, and in 2023 another version of the manuscript was longlisted for the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award.