Nesting, by Christie Collins

Nesting, by Erna Kuik (Netherlands). Contemporary.

Nesting

                           At first,
you loved the open cage of me,
the lighting embrace of me.

You loved the skin-soft curves,
the creases of me. The flighty
free will of me. The home
in my own skin of me.

Home. You wanted to home
with me, in my skin with me,
in a nest of twigs & pine with me.
To winter & spring with me.

But, from our nest, you didn’t
like the wildness of me,
the changing plumes of me,
the strong-scared songs of me.

What’s left of you, your love
of me – a crown of nettles,
which settles in my hair.
The birds – they poke, they prod
at me, singing the loneliest song –
      of me, of me, of me.

Christie Collins
​
Christie Collins "I just moved to Cardiff from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where I taught full-time in the English Department at Louisiana State University in addition to working as a remote editorial assistant for Copper Canyon Press. Here in Cardiff, I am a doctorate student in Creative Writing at Cardiff University under the supervision of Richard Gwyn and Ailbhe Darcy. As part of my degree program, I also teach creative writing workshops for the university. My critical and creative work has been published or is forthcoming in Kenyon Review Online, Entropy, Cold Mountain Review, Chicago Review of Books, Canyon Voices, Appalachian Heritage, Poetry South, Still: The Journal, Wicked Alice, So to Speak, and Reunion: The Dallas Review.  Recently, I have also accepted the task of writing reviews for Poetry Wales. My chapbook titled Along the Diminishing Stretch of Memory was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2014."

Erna Kuik is a photographer, visual artist, and writer. After graduating from the Artez Academy in 1992, her artwork was awarded the Gretha and Adri Pieck Prize, an award to encourage young, promising artists. Her work tends to an expressionistic style, known for its strong lines in linocuts and its poetic content. She wrote and illustrated children's books about very creative hares published by Atlantie Verlag Switzerland and has published other work that features her photography and illustrations. Her art can be found in many private collections worldwide and is exhibited in museums like the Haags Gemeentemuseum in The Hague and Museum De Fundatie in Zwolle and in galleries most recently during Slow Art In Motion Zutphen, Weg van Kunst in Kampen, and Lingeprint Grafiekmanifestatie in Huissen in the Netherlands. She loves to be in her studio; the spirit of making fluid thoughts into sparkling crystals on paper keeps her going. Her book Zwei lange, lange Ohren received many good reviews and was nominated for the Luchs Award by die Zeit in Germany.

More on this creative collaboration can be found at: loveofliterary.com.