Poetry: Anna Ziering
Anna Ziering received her MFA from BU (’15) and her BA from Barnard College (’11). She attended the Kenyon Writers Workshop (2015), and has studied under Robert Pinsky, Dan Chiasson, Saskia Hamilton, and Henri Cole. She expects to receive her PhD in Literature from the University of Connecticut in 2020.
PLEASE
In my dreams, you are faceless,
blank space lightly shaded.
I would sculpt you, red clay
dug from riverbanks. Terra cotta,
small warrior, to fit
between my fingers like a charm.
LITANY
Like ice, fright,
dishes smashed
on the counter
old bruises at night,
swiped-away
cobwebs, bricks
guitar picks snapping
a string, a note
soured, like
power. Fast food
for the starving, a knife
for carving, the west
to flee or snowdrifts
for the freezing, reading
a diagnosis, psychosis, pink
pill ovals with side-effect
warnings, mourning, violent
porn, beached moorings
sailboats for the phobic, the coast
when the boats aren’t
returning, stones
that break
plows, flags at
half mast
unfurling, I loved
you like milk
curdled, like hurdles,
like a black eye
and the fire
you set
on my gas stove
for a surprise I loved you.
Charred, unwise, I loved you.