the word derives from Mesmer,
a German guy who spoke of the energy that transfers
between animate beings – animal magnetism – the precursor
to hypnotism. Mesmer, with his swirling pinwheel eyes
that paralyse the mind and slow down time – the swoon
on the cusp of an epiphany – a dream that’s neither good nor bad
but interesting. Standing in your light I’m mesmerised
as a child in the doorway of a kitchen at night
holding dandelions and I can feel sometimes that you don’t want to go on
but then you look at my face and can’t bring yourself to leave
this life. I’m the rope in the tug of war between your opposing sides –
is it any wonder I feel stretched? But whenever I snap
you’re always the one to come back
waving your wine-stained peace rag, your voice casting spells
and your eyes like magnets, electrified –
and the whole thing starts again.
Louise Carter's poetry has appeared in Best Australian Poems, Cordite Poetry Review, Meanjin, Westerly, and Seizure. She is a doctoral candidate at Western Sydney University and a member of the Writing & Society Research Centre. She is currently working on her first full-length collection, tentatively called ‘Golden Repair’.