René Parks is an award winning poet and has presented her academic work at esteemed venues such as the Midwest Modern Language Association conference and Sigma Tau Delta International English Honors Society conference. Her scholarship and creative writing focus on themes central to ecofeminism, healing with nature, and folk stories. She received her BA and MA in English from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois and her MFA in poetry from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.
Rhamnus Cathartica (Common Buckthorn)
Mourning doves coo to each other and young hawks circle the sky
flight patterns dancing overhead
rays of sun hit the meadows edge
two broad canine heads boast crowns of wild sunflowers and butterfly weed
they munch grass like goats in the warmth of the afternoon
Althea’s lips form an O as she sucks up fallen chokecherries
Noble’s strong jaws crunch cracking meat from acorn shells
streamside their patient tongues lap between frogs and minnows, among the algae
full bellies lull them to sleep in the big blue stems of grass
under the shaggy bark of the hickory sits their transcendent queen in half lotus
unaware that from the shade of the forest
a stag, with twelve points to be made is watching
he silently accosts her meditation, mashes his deer lips to hers,
sucking the ujjayi breath from her mouth, hooves like stones pin her gyan hands
hornets swarm from their nearby hole, stinging protest
and Althea & Noble hear nothing through their dog dreams, kicking and whining in the weeds
hidden by stalks of mullein, the stag is sated
he wrests away her hawthorn ring and the spellbound queen sinks into the deepest sleep
nine months later, baby buckthorn penetrates a frosty ground
beneath the hickory, a single story is unbound
A Kindergartener & His Teacher, in Portrait
slim finger laid against Her tightly pursed lips
dividing the course craven hairs cowering atop,
bitter dark chocolate percolating in each crusty corner.
around the room She is drifting, elbows winging:
brillowed black hair and a serious snoot
She is maneuvering shin sharp tables
surrounded by trippable chairs
wafts of paints, crayons, and cookies flow on the air
and with leering looks of incredulity and scorn She
reduces him to dust five times a day
assessing his paper, grabbing his crayons,
proclaiming scribble scrabble,
pushing toward him a single leaden pencil
thus watering and sunshining seeds of self hate
planted by his divided parents
She pushes them deeper into underdeveloped
tissue soft recesses close to the bone
a reminder forever
of shoes too big for too small feet,
feet that refuse to fall in line
puffy pull-up threatening the elastic in his jeans
hang dog expression hardening his face of
translucent skin framed by fine orange hair,
crooked saucers astride his head
eyes round with shame
sitting in a chair at the back of the room
in permanent pout
while the good, the blessed with clean clothes
sit criss cross each pinned to a colorful carpet square
embracing Her pecking-order, they’ve outgrown the
need for a nap, and have flexible fingers producing tenuous letters
on white boards in their laps while Her talonous pointer lands
primly on each dear page of the glossy picture book