The island of Oahu is home to poet Alice Folkart. Between hula lessons and ukulele festivals she writes and volunteers as an administrator on Perfect Day 4 Poetry and the Internet Writing Workshop. Many of her poems and short stories have been seen in both paper-and-ink and cyber-literary journals over the last ten years. A cat, a musician husband and revision of her first novel fill her spare time.
Fall 2012
Table of Contents - Vol. VIII, No. 3
Poetry Fiction Translations Reviews
Alice Folkart
Here, in the middle of the sea
we're living on volcanoes,
suspended over the
fiery heart of the world,
pretending that
we're safe.
We build towns inside
comfortable caldera
rimmed with frozen
lava, black, red, brown.
We lie on the sand
and watch the ocean showing off,
blowing blues and greens,
milky jade,
electric turquoise,
coke-bottle green,
and a black-blue
out beyond the reef
hinting of great depths.
All of this,
blending and unblending,
a fury of waters, a tantrum,
and the creatures
both gentle and fierce
out of sight beneath,
while the waves rush the shore
tossing back strands of white
on every crest.
The fire beneath
us is on everyone's mind
although no one
ever speaks of it.
We pretend that we're safe.
© Alice Folkart
