ON THE EDGE

It doesn’t have to be 
an eclipse, but just the shift

from afternoon to evening light, 
the sudden scent of a daffodil, 

walking the dog early morning 
or the way our feet sink in wet 

earth after a storm. It doesn’t 
have to be an earthquake, 

ground flexing, trees down, 
so the only way out is through. 

It could just be listening 
to the sound of a blade of grass 

unfurl as ice melts, your breath 
on the edge of sleep.

The experience of growing up in rural North Yorkshire, UK along with her science background and love of nature informs and inspires Patricia Hemminger’s poetry. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Spillway, Streetlight Magazine and Peregrine Journal and in her chapbook, What Do We Know of Time? She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and is a graduate of NYU’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and of Drew University’s MFA Poetry and Poetry in Translation Program. She is currently producer of a documentary on green chemistry: Safer Stuff: Green Chemistry Gets Down to Business.