— after Margaret Atwood’s line in “For Archeologists”:
“drawn by a hand hard even to imagine”
What’s another way to say drawn?
Sketched? Pictured? Or taken up by
someone thirsty, lifting you up, a
comfort, a satisfaction in somebody’s hand.
Why does it have to be so hard
to picture even
this brief connection—a thirst attached to
a rope just strong enough to imagine.
–
Colette Tennant has three books of poetry: Commotion of Wings, Eden and After, and Sweet Gothic. Her book, Religion in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Brief Guide, was published in 2019 to coincide with Atwood’s publication of The Testaments. Her poems have won various awards and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes along with being published in various journals, including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. Colette is an English and Humanities Professor who has also taught art in Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.
© 2025, Colette Tennant
Halfway Down the Stairs 