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Reliquary

Being alive will be over
before I can speak of it.

As a child I played near the mill
and breathed deep the pines
loving trees and death of trees,
roots and needles, sawdust, sap.
I saw no border between wild and blade—
holy both.

Now, in funereal closets,
old boxes compress under new,
all holding pieces of pulse gone quiet:
photos of what’s forever done,
wreathes and garlands,
baby clothes for my now-teenager—
even the vacuum’s packed full
of lost hair and fallen crumbs,
squished beside summer jackets:
each a monument to a minute I lived
without realizing it
until that too was gone.

 

Jessica L. Walsh is the author of the collections How to Break My Neck and The List of Last Tries (forthcoming) as well as two chapbooks. Her work has appeared recently in RHINO, Glass: A Poetry Journal, Heartland Review, and more. She is a professor of English at a community college outside of Chicago and the blog manager for Agape Editions.

 

Issue 12 >