Poetry and Visuals from Umbilicus

Visuals by Johanna Stickland; Poetry by Carrie Schiffler

FLIGHT

Sarah saw shorebirds at the seashore and she cried
For the wings she wished she had
They skidded in to the bay full of purpose
Tiny faces intent
On guard
Bodies strutting like teenagers on the first day back to school
Awkward on the shifting sand
Graceful only when high
How she longed to soar with her feathered family
trusting the wind to carry her weightless
She knew how it felt to fly.
She flew in her dreams nightly orbiting vistas
The patchwork quilt of countrysides
the heavy metal machinations of cities
And the suburbs boring boxes
She was above it all
Untouchable
She knew how it felt to fly.
Fearless
Unlike a child who doesn’t want to sleep,
Sarah wished to never wake up.

THE RECKONING

My thong is all wrong
It lost its snap fourteen washes ago
An attempt to slingshot it across the room
Lands it at my feet
Next to the cat food
The still life of spent underwear and tender vittles
Title: Feed the pussy
Always feed her first.
Back in the day when I was up for play
I couldn’t go commando
My youth juice gave me away
Every time
The tell-tale snail trail
Leading Hansel to Gretel
clear, odourless
yet
Wet
rivulet
obvious
And blush-worthy
Like this poem.
And my sex life almost done
It’s been a good run
With heart lifted skywards
Chest flesh draws downwards
Grateful the babies are grown
And my honey is an ass man
These once perky puppies
Are dog tired
Rest well tired tits
Your work here is done.

Carrie Schiffler

Carrie Schiffler is an actor who writes. Her one woman show Tabitha, A Girl and Her Box depicted the three years she spent table dancing across Canada. When not writing or performing her own work, Carrie works in film and television on production such as Murdoch Mysteries, Heartland, Bad Blood, and Northern Rescue (Netflix). Her poetry has been published in Instant Anthology, Spare Change, Bemused and Downtown L.A. Life.

Johanna Stickland

Johanna Stickland is a Canadian painter, photographer and writer based in Portugal. Johanna’s painting and photographic work has been featured in numerous publications including Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, EXIT Magazine, Vision Magazine, and Metal Magazine. Her work is held in collections across the world including Australia, France, Canada, the United States and Germany.