Tak Erzinger's poem "Resident Alien"

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Tak Erzinger is an award-winning poet. Her collection At the Foot of the Mountain, (Floricanto Press California, 2021) won the University of Indianapolis Etching Press, Whirling Prize 2021 for best nature poetry book. It was also a finalist at the Willow Run Book Awards and Eyelands Book Awards.  She is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. She lives on a foothill of a Swiss alp with her husband and cats.



Resident Alien  

They’ll believe they’ve tamed her 

house broken in a quiet pasture

but never leave a stray alone


she’ll discover unexplored

corners to rip apart, open places

long drawn closed and forgotten. 


At least, she’ll aim to please   

memorising every trick, trying

to compensate for misplaced words.


Novelty, it wears off with any pet,

they’ll say she’s settled now

and won’t visit anymore.

 

Citizen: if you can talk the talk

and walk the walk— you know, when in…

But it’s still me: from the wild west


heart beating to a different rhythm,

I’m still keeping time

just in another zone.


© 2022 Tak Erzinger


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