Fear Melt - By Mara Lemanis
Fear Melt
It begins like a fever
in a region of ice
it jerks me back or
shoots me forward
as layer upon layer spreads fear
that hardens like a glacial shield
expanding its spine
impermeable as hate
It’s the mastermind
of mankind’s first command
— be the warrior not the prey —
from its frigid breath we built
caves camps forts
kingdoms into nation states
a million trillion breaths ago
as galaxies run from us
is it our chill that goads them off
are they afraid or
do they simply scorn to be
part of our neighborhood…
Fear may already lurk inside
the quantum field
exciting lightning into mass
which quark massed protons
into ice crystals
into a gelid skull
a helmet of fate ?
did it incubate in the warps
of local oceans
did the sponge fear tentacles of firstborn jellyfish —
or was it born non-local in the starry bouillon
of the cosmic microwave…
I succumb to fear of my extinction
but a dormant light seeps
through the arctic breath
of fear’s dominion
a willful thought Intrudes
like a mutant breach in
evolution’s promise
flashing fissures in
the dim ancestral skull
it is a thought that cuts to sorrow
to see a sparrow snared
to catch the pain
a fawn bears in a deadfall
a tiger bloodied in a mantrap
a mangrove felled
by raging winds
a warrior felled by
militant fear
a pitiless habit…
this is the breach
I’ve come to prize
it fosters sorrow’s evolution
it’s the latent light that slowly makes
the glacier melt
                                     Mara Lemanis
Mara Lemanis
Mara Lemanis
Biography: Mara Lemanis is a literary scholar. Her essays have been selected for 20th CENTURY LITERARY CRITICISM and are included in undergraduate student textbooks in the U.S.
She has worked as an archivist for Historical Preservation and with the IRC, assisting refugees in Oakland, California.
Disclaimer: The views, opinions and positions expressed within this guest article are those of the author Mara Lemanis alone and do not represent those of the Marbella Marbella website. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to Mara Lemanis and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with the author.
