Hayden Saunier
Poetry
Hayden Saunier’s work has been widely published in journals and awarded a Pushcart Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, Pablo Neruda Prize, and featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writers Almanac. Her sixth collection, Wheel, is forthcoming in 2024. www.haydensaunier.com
Monotype
Ink the smooth glass plate
deep glossy black
& thick as moonlight’s sheen on quiet water
etch a path through night fields
trace the line of a remembered cheek
reveal a face or landscape
by what’s been taken from it.
Leave the sky dark
as an eye, the eye dark
as a sky, rich with mystery.
Lay on the paper.
Burnish the back.
For once, you decide what’s wiped away.
“ An artist friend introduced me to monotype and I fell in love with the simplicity of ink, mark-making, and erasure on a small plate—and, as in the poem, I discovered that the doing of it satisfied a deeper need. ”
Listen: