An endless field of magnolias

The clouds hang
like mauve hydrangeas
in the vivid-blue garden
of the New England sky

as my client pauses
halfway along
the brown and black
speckled footpath
to my consult room

to converse with
a single magnolia
acclaiming its attire
of faded pink and
black-striped trimmings

our task lay in helping her
to equally notice
her inner grace and resilience
and the choices available
to liberate herself

to veer off into an
endless field of magnolias
some even with double blossoms
white, pink, purple, and
shades of yellow
beckoning on a journey
to her authentic self.

Leon van der Linde was born in Zambia. After a number of years in Tasmania, he now lives with his family on his farming property and Australian White Sheep stud near the rural locality of Yarrowyck on the western slopes of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. With a PhD in psychology from Western Sydney University, he works as a psychologist in nearby Armidale, specialising in brief or time-limited dynamic psychotherapy, and is the author of the book ‘A New Drive-Relational-Neuroscience Synthesis for Psychoanalysis’, details of which can be found here.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.