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The first five days read yellow against the window shade. The water
pressure barely knew its way
through the pipes. We accordioned
the hours on a damp queen with pale green sheets. It was
always morning. The dew always just leaving again
for the sky. No one
named us. No one spent a measure of breath trying
to reach inside. Thirty minutes from here, our lives
went on without us. Most of our clothes holding
only hangers, only drawer space. The lock firmly
keeping the door. The air switching itself
on and off.
Here, though, the starlings,
the wordless way
our bodies say.
From Hunger Mountain Issue 23: Silence & Power, which you can purchase here.
Art by Sondra Graff, curated by Dana Lyons.
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[av_one_half]John A. Nieves has poems recently published in journals such as: Beloit Poetry Journal, 32 Poems, Southern Review, Cincinnati Review, and Copper Nickel. He won the Indiana Review Poetry Contest and his first book, Curio, won the Elixir Press Annual Poetry Award Judge’s Prize. He is assistant professor of English at Salisbury University. He received his M.A. from University of South Florida and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.[/av_one_half]
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