Donna is a fantastic poet from Toronto, Canada, who also has a poem published in the upcoming Volume 7 of Timeless Reflections Anthology. This poem, titled Flicker, is about the Year of the Fire Horse, from Chinese Astrology- the year Donna was born. Enjoy!
Flicker
2026 is the year of the Fire Horse,
a time of fast-paced change, wild energy.
Chinese astrology
I was born in the Year of the Horse, 7 cycles back.
My fire, waning to a flicker,
my heat, reduced to embers,
instead of many melting candles,
my cake will feature two wax numbers.
Hobbled by arthritis, a swayback now,
my gallop, a shuffle,
should I put myself out to pasture,
dwell only in burnt woodlands?
Which hearths are still mine to tend?
Working my way down a bucket list
no flames have yet licked—
Instead of burning paper money
to provide for ancestral ghosts
as my Cantonese neighbors did,
I honor my parents with poems,
celebrate three sons
through phone calls, across dinner tables,
and by digging waterways in the sandbox
with my four-year-old grandson.
As always, old and new friendships warm me
and word-sparks kindle my wooden pencil.
This Fire Horse’s thirst is quenched
at a well-spring of joy.
Donna Langevin lives in Toronto, Canada. Her fifth poetry collection, Brimming was published by Piquant Press, 2019. Her play, Summer of Saints won second place Stella Award from Act 2 Studio, Metropolitan Toronto University, 2022. She won first place in The Ontario Poetry Society Pandemic Poetry Contest, 2020.