who was my mother at the end?
a moon without its latticework
who was she thinking of?
wind among the early lilacs
what color were her eyes?
a hurt a thirst
who will I turn to for my history?
garden snake tasting the air
did she have a favorite sweater?
spring rain streaking the window
what am I learning?
chorus of birds beyond an individual song
where has she gone?
there were stars at the beginning
where has she gone?
there were stars at the end
Jory Mickelson’s first book, WILDERNESS//KINGDOM, is the inaugural winner of the Evergreen Award Tour from Floating Bridge Press and winner of the 2020 High Plains Book Award in Poetry. Their publications include Court Green, Painted Bride Quarterly, Jubilat, Sixth Finch, and The Rumpus. They are the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and were awarded fellowships from the Lambda Literary Foundation, Winter Tangerine, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico. They are currently a 2022 Jack Straw Fellow and live in the Pacific Northwest. You can find out more about their work at www.jorymickelson.com
