SHY DAISIES

SHY DAISIES, by Gretchen Tessmer, with artwork by Andrea Alemanno

 

 

She’s muttering to herself

oh, clasp these hands together
before we’re all done in—

keep them steady
keep them still

don’t shiver
even as the woods dress in winter-white

all their apple seeds
and maple saplings
close to the chest, sleeping

under this frosted courtyard
of ice and snow
where Persephone paces, far below
wringing her aching hands

she marks the days out in repressed rage
and slashes made
with cinder ash

lonely, lonely, lonely days

missing her mother
missing the sun
making friends with the underworld cats

occasionally, too brazen
too brash!
she unclasps her hands
rebellious fingers fidgeting

and reaching up, far above her head

she pushes forth fields of
shy, white daisies

strong, green shoots
piercing the permafrost
straight through

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Gretchen Tessmer is a writer/attorney based in the U.S./Canadian borderlands.  She writes both short fiction and poetry, with work appearing in such venues as Nature, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, together with previous appearances in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

 

Andrea Alemanno  is a compulsive illustrator  who fills the line spacing, preferably at 300 dpi.
She’s  from Italy and loves to move into a new city searching for inspiration. In every city,  she constantly keeps drawing.  Now, 3 decades later (and a little bit more), she is  still drawing and learning something new everyday.  She loves the traditional touch into a digital tools world so uses pencil, ink and digital colors to give life to her artwork.  Sometimes she shares her knowledge with wannabe illustrators.  Her work has been selected for several awards and she’s currently working for Italian and international publishers.