It’s the Ace of Wands, of Clubs.
The card of talent. On its head.
Telling me to look before I leap,
but please, “Do not forget to leap.”*
The Five of Cups questions
if the bottomless glass
is half full or fully empty,
and I’m simply nudged to drink it up.
Transcendence depends on my mood.
“It all depends on the moon.”
The Queen of Hearts intervenes.
Generally reminiscent of my mother,
always drowning in emotion,
but today the archetype prompts
my stoned heart to unravel
the inebriation.
Show the World I care.
Last to arrive is Salvation,
The High Priest, the fifth,
[ The Pope ] pleads for a return to my vocation,
to abandon my abdication.
Addiction is only a throne for the wicked,
and “The bottom of the bottle hits back.”
* From Tarot Secrets: A Fast and Easy Way to Learn a Powerful Ancient Art by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber
Gina Moriarty is an emerging writer who earned her MFA through Chatham University in Pittsburgh where her thesis was the recipient of the Katherine Ayres Award. She's mostly a nonfiction writer but dabbles in poetry. Typically, her work covers the themes of addiction, heartache, and coincidence beneath an umbrella of hope.
Her nonfiction has been published by Permafrost Magazine, the AROHO Foundation, the Braided Way Magazine, and 3 AM Press. Her poetry has appeared in the Brief Wilderness, the Ekphrastic Review, and the Classical Poets Society.
Twitter: @GinaMoriarty