September 2024
Bio Note: In September I will have the great pleasure of reading in New York City with a few Verse-Virtual staples, including Barbara Crooker and Alan Walowitz. I am justifiably intimidated, but also ecstatic to have this opportunity. Alan and I co-wrote In the Muddle of the Night (which unfortunately came out in 2020) and will finally have a chance to read together in person. September has many associations for me: the excitement I felt as a child going back to school, the fear I felt on 9/11. It will be profound and apt to be back in New York for many reasons.
An Ode to Swallowing
when even a spoonful is too much,
you feed on a line of sugar water,
heart thrumming like a hummingbird
when your throat narrows
along with the road ahead
and fear of aspiration
fills you with dread
when the lump in your throat
becomes an unspoken apology
in mine
when the line is drawn
between ritual and survival
and a meal is made of air
when the tart smoothness
of a teaspoonful of yogurt
distills a perfect sweetness
from our first gulp of air at birth
to the first solid that we consume,
we take for granted the breath,
nourishment, swallow the fear of choking
in time, we begin our vigil, watch
our elders, then become our elders—
each bite a promise and a threat,
the irony cruel on our tongues
if we’re lucky, return to gruel,
swallow what we must.
Originally published in Minyan
Muffler
I wake up, neck tight,
dream’s scarf
still encircling my throat.
I unwind it, feel my heart
breath returning,
dream receding, stepping back
into the alley of the night.
Originally published in ONE ART
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