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.