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Like the Polynesian sailors of old I navigate my coracle by the stars. They knew the wind. They took it and tamed it and made it blow them across the seas. I see them pass in the night, the Navigators, slicing the water silently in sharp-nosed boats carved with heads of dragons and faces of Gods, homage and defiance, their eyes on the sky where the stars turn. I sail against the wind, fighting each breath; my boat uncarved, plain, revealing nothing — or perhaps revealing all by absence. My Gods are not the kind that wear faces or know sacrifices. My Gods laugh, and I can hear that laughter echo sometimes through deep dreams. My Gods bear gifts that at first sight are thorns and ashes. But my Gods stand beside me and tell me of the stars I should follow sailing the night seas against the wind. [Ed. Note: Seventh part of a 10-part poem. « Beginning | « Previous | Next »] · · · · · ·
Alma Hromic, the author with R. A. Deckert of Letters from the Fire, was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Trained as a microbiologist, she spent some years running a scientific journal, and later worked as an editor for an international educational publisher. Her own publishing record includes her autobiography, Houses in Africa, The Dolphin's Daughter and Other Stories, a bestselling book of three fables published by Longman UK in 1995, as well as numerous pieces of short fiction and non-fiction. Her last novel, the first volume of a fantasy series, Changer of Days: The Oracle, was published in September 2001 by Harper Collins. Hromic is an essential member of Swans. She maintains her own Web site (with Deck Deckert) where she provides information about her work and the professional services she offers: ButterknifeBooks.com Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this poem on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work without the expressed written authorization of Swans, which will seek permission from the author. This material is copyrighted, © Alma A. Hromic 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. |
This Week's Internal Links
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Alma Hromic on Swans
Essays published in 2002 | 2001
On the Anniversary (September 2000)
Subject: Into Myth (September 2000)
Sadness in Novi Sad, Serbia (April 2000)