Lumens and love

a poem by Harley Bell

One body can hold
another body
like a lantern holds
the light.

Shall we talk about the way
wick and wax become a candle?

Shall we gather flint to fuel
and spark an ember?

How can we remember
to sustain the flame
between us?

May our lumens illume love.

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This poem is in my as yet unpublished poetry book, Wild Altar. I am currently searching for a publisher for it, do you have any suggestions where my work could find a home?

Wild Altar is a book of New Zealand poetry. It contains poems about art, love, meditation and magic. There are poems about sleeping in carparks, getting lost in forests and sailing between islands. There are hard moments when I pry under the rug, where we New Zealander’s love to sweep our darkness. All encircles the landscape of Aotearoa. All illumes what it is like to live here.