
The megrim of migraine (Isabella)
Lisa Delan
I birthed you
precious, perfect,
in suspended time,
held high above the
vulnerable earth
we two.
But gravity crooned
her siren song
and we drew near to listen,
her dangerous lullaby
cradling us close
to the surface
until I could no longer deny the weight of our bodies.
The hovering air hung
so thick my skull cracked –
but still I nursed your
mewling heart, your
pink bud mouth,
as bilious glass
(leaded, unyielding)
caged my head,
and through its impenetrable wall
I adored you,
while straining to see
through its beveled surface
your beautiful translucent face.

Lisa Delan is classical soprano specializing in American Art Song; performing, recording, and commissioning musical settings of an expansive range of poetry. She has recorded extensively for the Pentatone label and can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and other streaming platforms. Her own poetry has appeared or will be featured in American Writers Review (San Fedele Press 2022), Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Burningword Literary Journal, Cathexis Northwest Press, Drunk Monkeys, Lone Mountain Literary Society, Mill Valley Literary Review, Poets Choice, The Pointed Circle, Tangled Locks, Viewless Wings, and Wingless Dreamer. In a "meeting of the spirits", Festival Napa Valley recently commissioned three classical composers to set Lisa's words to music, and the songs were premiered in July of 2022.