I NEED ANOTHER LIFETIME
to feel the curve of the earth on my spine,
the curve of the sky in my eye;
to watch the clouds for an entire day
& not care how much time goes by;
to see that the sky has a thousand shades
& to name all those hues of blue;
to paint the wind with my breath & my words
so that you, my love, see it too.
*****
LOOK UP The wooded trail is sleek. Hooded, I guard my feet— rubber chunks thunk through the gathering snow. I look up. The deer—mist-wreathed— is mincing: teacup hooves chinking on a crystal tableau. *****
REPENTANCE To see chickadees flick through the trees and not smell Creator in their piney cavort— To see the young doe burrow in snow and not see Divine in her instinctual recline— for this, I atone standing alone in the frosted forgiving forest.
Katherine Matiko lives in the foothills of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, where she finds daily inspiration for fiction and poetry. Her poems have appeared in (M)othering: an anthology; Wild Roof Journal; the League of Canadian Poets’ Poetry Pause; and WordCity Literary Journal. One of her poems was selected as a winner of Fort Calgary’s 2024 Chinook Poetry Prize, and another by The Age Collective for the Growing Older, Living Deeply (GOLD) Poetry Project. Two pieces are forthcoming in the Canada is Our Poem anthology. Katherine’s debut novel Eden’s Daughter was published in 2025.