You didn’t take me seriously
when I said I was qualified.
It’s okay. Money grows
on certain trees, and people
like you pluck them leaf-
less. I want to hold the roots
in my hands, my long and
hardened hands. I want to make
a phone call on your behalf.
I wish I had a trust
fund. Someone I trust
to grow within me.
A seed that sees
how dark the world
becomes without
the light to grow,
planted anyway.
(originally published in Poetry Pacific, Spring 2025)
I am not this negative.
I look at Post-It note
days and see a march
of white beneath, my life
before me on corkboards,
dilapidated. I used
to joke easily in this junk-
yard, chasing wayward
clouds in the sunset,
in awe of our city’s
little skyscrapers
over shards of broken
bottles on asphalt.
And you’d join me,
too, running across
the parking lot,
the cars rolling
over blue bridge,
roaring, as we
were under it
at the mercy
of an aged
but comforting
infrastructure.
I don’t know
if I have changed,
or if the world
is wearier, how
I don’t even
look for the
weather when
I open
the door
to leave.
(originally published in A God You Believed In, Fall 2023)