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Atma Frans – Restoration
Grandpa puts a block of poplar in the vice
Silently, I sit on the high stool
next to the window
the pane uneven, a skin of ice on a puddle
40s glass Grandpa replaced
when the bombardments ended
I don’t talk much
since my preschool teacher taped my mouth shut
Grandpa presses the chisel into wood
and shavings curl into serpentine ribbons
They twist into soft nests
while sun filters through brittle glass
Atma Frans lives on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people in Gibsons, B.C, Canada where she hikes, wild swims and is working on a collection of poetry about (generational) trauma, love and the return to joy. Her poetry has won first place in Quagmire Magazine, Inaugural Poetry Contest, 2023, and second place in Muriel’s Journey Prize 2024 as well as in the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society, Beachcombers Contest, 2022 and was a finalist in Oxford Brookes University, International Poetry Competition, 2022. Her writing has been widely published in literary magazines in Canada, US and the U.K.
Artwork: Sinner's Child by Merlin Flower
Merlin Flower is an independent artist and writer.
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