Bio
Anna Teresa Slater is a teacher from Iloilo, Philippines. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her work is published or forthcoming in Channel Lit Mag, Ghost City Review, The Literary Nest, Song of Eretz Poetry Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Shot Glass Journal, and more, as well as in anthologies by Kasingkasing Press and Hedgehog Poetry Press. The eBook version of her first poetry collection, 'A Singular, Spectacular Chore' (Kasingkasing Press) was released in November 2020, with the print version forthcoming in 2021. Anna lives on a farm with her husband, dog, and cat. Website: annateresapoetry.com
Anna Teresa Slater
Where it Began
She wanted to learn how to read
music: a lullaby, a ballad, the precision
of a lioness. That there is harmony in lines
and curves; pauses halved, quartered, even
encouraged rest. To master
measure, scribbled power that orders
one to withhold breath. Like the moment
before a baby's first cry. Proof of life,
its span, the ability to die.