Ace of Cups

by Nicole Rain Sellers

                                            Our family birdbath 
                                                     ripples sun essence, 
                                                           pours glitter libations
                                                             on stones below
                                                             the flame trees.

                                                            At your births, bronzewings
                                                           rose from our silky oak
                                                        shoulders. Diamond doves
                                                    in our veins rivered
                                               the silver wattles.

                                     Even now, liquid light
                            overflows. Rainbow  
                    lorikeets flash, dive 
          in our paralysed hearts,
shriek grevillea love.
   
           Sap surges the honey myrtle,
                            spills bottlebrush fireworks, 
                                        drips seedpod lifeboats, 
                                                  pools in new nests.   
                               
                                                             Refill your gold cups 
                                                                  with this native elixir,
                                                                     this kingfisher mirror 
                                                                      that blooms waratahs. 
                                                                     No plunge can dissolve you
                                                                  and nothing contains 
                                                              your bubbling springs.
                                           
                                                      We made you of light
                                               from an infinite torrent.
                                      Our reservoir brims
                           with your shimmering.

Since their father’s sudden death, and through lockdowns, quarantines, and upheavals, my children’s resilience has been dazzling. The Ace of Cups tarot card reminds me of the radiant life force flowing in them, and replenishing us all. There are countless Ace of Cups interpretations; this 15^th century version from the Visconti-Svorza tarot deck was painted by Bonifacio Bembo. https://www.themorgan.org/collection/tarot-cards/the-ace-of-cups

Biography
Nicole Rain Sellers’ poems have been published in Plumwood Mountain, The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, and The Blue Nib, and awarded in the Society of Women Writers Tasmania Robyn Mathison Poetry Prize (2019) and the Fellowship of Australian Writers Lake Macquarie Branch Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition (2020). Her ecopoetry collection co-authored with Rebecca Trowbridge, Fossilised Lightning, will be released in 2021 by Girls on Key Poetry. Visit her at https://www.nicolerainsellers.com/