Live Encounters Poetry & Writing June 2025
Power Cut, poems by Karin Molde.
Power Cut
this scar, a memory of heat, of burn, this infected sting
of this and of that; this long night of cups of tea, chamomile
and valerian, this unrest, this clinging to hot water bottles,this insomnia, too heavy a blanket, this nightmare
of children, cheeks glowing from lack of sleep, full
of foreboding, doomed; this nightmare of an apparatus
that blinks and bleeps, a doctor with syringe, huge hands
that stick a plaster on both my cheeks, they sting, cannot
be ripped off without bruising skin. Remember
the visit at the taxidermist’s, raw hides, salted, skulls and horns
separated, this is what I’ve come to, this deconstruction,
skin, bones, and flesh, this is what I’ve come to, this
charred inside, this burnt-out mind, this: me.
Black dog pulls on the leash
Love Note to the Ibis
At nightfall, the air is set in dark blue motion. Meru rests
his black bulk. Ibises tuck themselves in for the night.
Their last screeches fade in, fade out with cicadas
and night birds. Nature perfects her scratching technique.
I store the sound in the bass of my body. The moon
chooses a blue hue like a disco ball in the small hours;
Ibis’ wings glisten in the dark. I close my eyes,
and lashes, long like bird tails, lie on my cheeks.
This morning, as I rake leaves, oak and beech,
bright red and orange, I balance dew drops on sun rays.
I listen to the geese sing their farewell in a crisp
Northern sky, as they head south, and so do I,
send a note to the ibis, my words and wishes rolled up
in autumn dew. A memory cupping my face.
© Karin Molde
Karin Molde feels at home in Ireland, Germany and South Africa. She has published in numerous magazines, both print and online, like Skylight 47, Honest Ulsterman, The Wild Word, Live Encounters, Drawn to the Light Press, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Dreich, and in anthologies, e.g. Everything that can happen (Emma Press, 2019), Identity (Fly on the Wall, 2020), Remembering Toni Morrison (Moonstone Press, 2020), New Beginnings (Renard Press, 2021), Ukraine War Special Edition (Poetica Review, 2022). She is a member of the German Stanza, associated with The Poetry Society (UK). Their collaborative anthology 13 Waves. Poets from the German Stanza was published in 2024. Her chapbook “Self-Portrait with Sheep Skull” came out with Moonstone Press, 2023.