JULIE DEXTER

Mise en Abyme

The Salix is rumbustious,
waving its leaves in all directions.

The daisies and lantana practice joy,
they nod their heads in agreement.

I, too, am learning quietude, stretched out
beneath the awning, bathed in golden light.

Grandma appears through the doorway with her
walking stick. The sunflower bows

its heavy head to the dying light;
soon autumn will begin.

Even the Salix will unshackle its leaves,
they will drift to the ground effortlessly.

The moon and the first star
make a semicolon in the sky.

The window darkens;
my face stretches thin

against the glass, blurring like wet ink.
Behind me, the weeping sunflower head

blooms through me. Grandma, in the kitchen now,
looks out, a palimpsest in the reflection.

Julie Dexter is an East London based poet and winner of the 2023 Pen to Print Poetry Prize. Trained as a professional dancer, she brings a strong sense of rhythm and movement to her poetry. Her work has appeared in Acumen, Haus-a-Rest, Leaf, and across Write On! Magazine’s publications. New work is forthcoming in the Maiden Mother Crone Poetry Anthology (Seacrow Press, 2026). She is currently developing her first poetry collection and experimenting with new forms.