Reflection on the Opposite / How to Find One's True Voice by M.J. Iuppa

Reflection on the Opposite

                            ~Howden Pond

Watching the water strider skim

across the pond’s morning face, I

see a slight grimace— shudder of

being touched when it’s unwelcomed.

Too early to disturb this hour’s slow

awakening, I sit on a flat rock, full of

agitation, wanting to cast my disquiet

into the pond’s open mouth, waiting

to see my sleepless face floating in

shallows— there, close to the blind

of wild irises candled with sunlight.

How To Find One’s True Voice

When night slips into the yard

without wind, without chill, I

step inside the sycamore’s

shadow & look up and up

into the dome of sky that’s full

of winter stars & feel my spirit

tussling in my chest, like

a small child trying to break

my hold. Absentmindedly

my hand rests against my heart’s

race & I listen to what could

scare me if I look closer— like

the silence of an owl brushing

past my shoulder, filling

that space I keep

at a distance.

M.J. Iuppa, Director of the Visual &Performing Arts Minor Program and Lecturer in Creative Writing at St. John Fisher College, and a part-time lecturer in Creative Writing at The College at Brockport, was awarded the New York State Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching, 2017.