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The Take

The Take: Zachary Kluckman

Author’s Statement:

“Effigy” is partially inspired by the annual burning of Zozobra, a 50-foot effigy representing all that is negative. My mother passed recently, and the concept of this larger-than-life woman’s absence towers over me similarly. “Effigy” explores the enormity of her cremation, as well as the magnitude – and spectacle – of loss and grief as we attempt to process them. It is an evocation of impermanence and a prayer to what we cannot hold.

Editor’s Statement:

Kluckman’s poem contains a number of strong elements occurring simultaneously: the frantic breath of the speaker, effective use of repetition, staccato phrasing rendering in stark relief a deep sense of grief and mourning. The poet employs striking imagery and diction (machines, stacking dolls, hearts full of holes, fire-surviving teeth) while weaving a core-thread through wind and storm, furnace and ash. Ultimately, the reader is left awestruck with heavy emotion.

Effigy

by Zachary Kluckman

When I tell you her body
Made of ash, is my fear
I mean strong winds
I mean all of our bodies
Nesting dolls hiding terrible
Machines, clockwork
A misleading name
They don’t, always
We don’t
Always
I mean ash
Cannot be caught with nets
Our hearts too full of holes
To catch all of her
When the winds change
The way she moved
Place to place
Driven by storms
I mean, the idea of her
Now
Waiting for the furnace
To never move again
I mean the teeth
that do not burn
I mean
her teeth
I mean
You cannot cradle ash
I mean
Her memory
Weighs more than her
I mean

She’s gone

Imeanmyheart

can’ t compete with fire

By Jonah Meyer

Jonah Meyer is poetry editor of Mud Season Review. A poet, writer, and editor in North Carolina, he holds a Bachelors in Cultural Anthropology, Masters in Library & Information Systems, and has backgrounds in print journalism and public librarianship. Jonah’s creative work has appeared or is forthcoming in O.Henry Magazine, Ampersand Literary Journal, Carolina Peacemaker, The Writing Disorder, Bluebird Word, Boats Against the Current, American Crises, JAB Fiction and Poetry, Bohemian Review, Found Spaces, The Mountaineer, Sledgehammer Lit, Oddball Magazine, Cold Lake Anthology, Beaver Magazine, Press Pause, Digging Press, Raise the Voices, Within and Without Magazine, and elsewhere. Jonah plays guitar, banjo, and piano, shoots street photography, and studies neuroscience and Buddhist philosophy. He serves as Poetry Editor for Twin Bird Review, Assistant Poetry Editor for Random Sample Review, Staff Writer with The US Review of Books, Copy Editor with Under the Gum Tree, Poetry Book Reviewer for Heavy Feather, and Poetry Reader for Okay Donkey. Jonah firmly believes everyone has a story worth telling.