Cosmic Dinner: a Pantoum, by Christie Chandler Stahl

Still Life Reviving (Naturaleza muerta resucitando), by Remedios Varo (México, b. Spain) 1963

Cosmic Dinner: a Pantoum

A table for eight levitates, 
four siblings dine with the ancestors. 
Orbiting a single lit candle, 
peaches collide, resentments scatter.

Four heirs dine with revenant kin, 
wreathed in planetary rings of stardust. 
Peaches collide, a bitter sap erupts, 
mother returns as a mosquito.

Adrift in planetary rings of stardust, 
siblings argue, pomegranates burst. 
Mother’s mosquito stings bleed, 
seeds of discord sprout from the floor.

Ancient rivalries clash, pomegranates burst, 
blood feuds transcend death and decay. 
Bitter shoots of spite sprout from the floor, 
Father's alchemy transforms into light.

Blood feuds echo through time and decay, 
ancient feuds take a galactic form. 
Father’s strange magic transmutes to light, 
quarreling eddies swirl through the air.

Discord fades on a cosmic scale, 
light gathers in celestial whirls. 
calmer currents quiet the dinner melee, 
new seeds are sown, the family heals.

Light revitalizes celestial whirls, 
a table for eight levitates. 
The family heals, a new generation gathers,
ancestors orbit a single lit candle.

Christie Chandler Stahl

Christie Chandler Stahl is a former librarian who writes poetry, stories and facilitates writing workshops. Her poems have appeared in Flying Island Journal, Midsummer Dream House, The Winged Moon Literary Magazine and others. She loves growing vegetables, cooking, photography and swimming in Lake Michigan.