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: