by NICOLE FARMER

after Amanda Moore

I know nothing of knitting
but what I can braid together from
this yarn of yearning
& fashion some sort of hairshirt
to cover my broken chest.

The mountains surround my home
& my tortured dream bed where
my mind struggles to fix this fissure nightly.

Trucks race by my window.
Headlights transform blinds into bars on my walls.

The moon is a bright O of seduction.
She mesmerizes my sleepless hours.

Mysteries of my daughter bubble in my brain
like a cauldron of misunderstanding
an unravelling spool of heartstrings
& I miss her
& I miss her more.

I am the stranger.
My penance = waiting.

Ω

Nicole Farmer has published two books of poetry, Wet Underbelly Wind (Finishing Line Press 2022) and Honest Sonnets (Kelsay Books 2023). Her poems have been published in over forty magazines. She was awarded the first prize in prose poetry from Bacopa Literary Review in 2020. She lives in Asheville, NC. Find her at Farmerpoetry.com.

Jax Perry is a Boston-based artist who utilizes paint as a vehicle for storytelling, while often blurring the boundaries between realism and surrealism. Alongside her artistic pursuits, she works as a research lab manager in the division of Hematology and Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard. Her paintings attempt to capture moments and weave a narrative.