Where My Spine Got in Shape and Other Poems

By Doerthe Huth

Where My Spine Got in Shape

            recently I found my way
back
     to my own beginning
     on which the backbone of my life
     got in shape and hardened
     like liquid steel under river water

A Industrial City -
            of all places? you asked.
            Why not Berlin, Syney or New York?
            Later I stood there, the certificate in my hands
            and left the first place I called home.

The timeline
              is only moving forward - live, work, love
              I could have stayed a part of it
              pulled away like cargo instead
              against the current

And yet time is bending back
like grasses bow in the wind
as if I've never been away
or have never even been.

Beyond the Horizon

The first sunrays
flourish on the horizon
the landscape paints a wake-up picture

The honking of a car
crosses the watercolor painting
and I feel you by my side

Just like before
when we drove to the wholesale market
with the transporter around four in the morning
to buy the best fruits and vegetables
and to get the shop opened at 8 a.m.

Raindrops on the asphalt
refract the light as bright color spots
a reflection of engine oil in the puddles
like many little rainbows on the horizons.

New Beginnings

I grew up in a garden of
flowering plants
everywhere seeding
new beginnings
every day.

One day I'll give you
a black rose, you said
and the beginning
of your search
was almost the end.

Into your grave I toss
an artificially blackened rose.

There has to be a new start
instead, I think about the end
and hope for a new beginning.

Therefore I keep
scattering flowerseeds.

Trip to a Community Reading

The whole trip is he talking about kittens
for a full hour
through the whole traffic jam
in a running monologue

Everyone tries
to draw attention to another topic of conversation
inevitably fails
always the same
train of thought: kitten

Skillfully he steers to it
again and again
In doing so, we should
talk about the community reading
come to an agreement
on the course of the reading
on time, space, and change of speakers

I am glad that it is not far to our destination.
Finally, I activate the turn signal, and say:
Here it is, we are there.
For a few second nobody speaks
the passengers orientate themselves in the dark

Cool autumn air hits us
We go around the car and
take our bags and books
from the trunk
I press the button once to lock the car
turn around and see
on the steps of the house: a kitten.

Doerthe Huth is a writer from Germany and loves all kind of creative work. She holds an M.A. degree in German, Psychology and Computational Linguistics. In addition to several book publications about joy of life she is also represented with her literary writing in anthologies and magazines. Her poems are published or forthcoming in such as Otoliths, Writing In A Woman´s Voice, Poetica Review and Flapperpress. See her English website: https://doerthe-huth.jimdosite.com/