Delane Just is a current graduate student in the MFA in Writing program at USask. She has been awarded an SSHRC grant for her thesis project, a collection of short stories relating to the Canadian women and LGBTQ+ millennial experience. Delane currently serves as a coordinator for the River Volta Reading Series. She also works as the Graduate Editor-in-Chief of the University of Saskatchewan Undergraduate Research Journal in which her own article “The Wombe’s Burden’’ has recently been published.
Metamorphosis
if we die,
could we become trees like them?
Oak and Linden
sprouting leaves that dance and chatter?
crinkle, float, fall, and frost —
if we die,
could we become birds like them?
will I wait at the shore for you,
Kingfisher?
drown in the sea with you?
would you sing for me,
My Orpheus,
search the depths for me?
look back for me?
or would I become your muse,
your block of clay,
shape me into being.
if we die,
would I see you again?
when the seasons change,
would I descend again,
God of Wealth
God of the Deep
would they write of us,
my love?
keeper of secrets —
would we remember?
You can follow Delane on Instagram @justdelane.
This piece is part of the in medias res Jan. 2021 “Reflection” Issue. You can read the full issue under the tag “Jan. 2021.”
Image: Pandora (1914) by Odilon Redon (Public Domain)