by Emily Hockaday

It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!

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In Viking sagas, language is
roundabout. A sword is a blood
worm; blood battle sweat. Is it this
that made me a poet? Around
my finger: a ring of Frejya’s tears bind
us. Your blood is also of Viking
descent. In Iceland we blend in
with the locals, drinking heavy
beers, eating fish stew, until they hear
us speak: Is this also where my gift
for circumlocution stems? You tell me
you love me and I describe all the ways
in which I would have made a good
conqueror. You don’t argue. We
look out over the glacial mountains
(stone teeth, ice trolls, snow knives)
and beneath, the lava (Earth’s blood,
Surtr’s misery, liquid flame) lies
in wait; there is always seismic
activity here, no matter how stable
or frozen the land appears.

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Emily Hockaday's second full-length collection, In a Body, was published by Harbor Editions in 2023. Her first, Naming the Ghost, debuted with Cornerstone Press in 2022. Emily is a De Groot Foundation Writer of Note and a Café Royal Cultural Foundation, NY City Artist Corps, and NYFA Queens Art Fund recipient. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals in print and online, including Electric Literature and the North American Review. She is the editor of Heartbeat of the Universe (Interstellar Flight Press 2024). Emily writes about ecology, parenthood, the urban environment, and chronic illness. She can be found online at emilyhockaday.com and @E_Hockaday.

by Emily Hockaday

In Viking sagas, language is

roundabout. A sword is a blood

worm; blood battle sweat. Is it this

that made me a poet? Around

my finger: a ring of Frejya’s tears bind

us. Your blood is also of Viking

descent. In Iceland we blend in

with the locals, drinking heavy

beers, eating fish stew, until they hear

us speak: Is this also where my gift

for circumlocution stems? You tell me

you love me and I describe all the ways

in which I would have made a good

conqueror. You don’t argue. We

look out over the glacial mountains

(stone teeth, ice trolls, snow knives)

and beneath, the lava (Earth’s blood,

Surtr’s misery, liquid flame) lies

in wait; there is always seismic

activity here, no matter how stable

or frozen the land appears.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Emily Hockaday is author of three chapbooks—Ophelia: A Botanist's Guide, What We Love & Will Not Give Up, and Starting a Life—with a fourth, Beach Vocabulary, forthcoming from Red Bird Chaps. Her work has appeared in a number of journals including the North American Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Newtown Literary, and most recently the Maine Review. She can be found on the web at www.emilyhockaday.com and @E_Hockaday.