You came to us, curled tightly on the floor,A shaggy roll, shaking, small, and flatAs if movement would subject you to more Cruelty that you had known and absorbed into your core,Your soul’s worth diminished to only thatWhich you could birth, the profit they could score Thanks to your body and all that it couldContinue reading “Luna’s Villanelle”
Tag Archives: healing
A Conversation Under the Arch
This short piece was a doctoral assignment. It is a joint response to Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars and Brian Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras.” As I enter the museum, I am immediately struck by how quiet it is. It’s a weekday, I remind myself, so I probably should have expected the low-key atmosphere. I take time toContinue reading “A Conversation Under the Arch”
The Prodigal’s Dog
I knew him while he was growing up. He was the one who threw my stick, rubbed my belly, ran with me in the fields. I slept at the foot of his bed and rose with him each morning. Then one day, he was gone. I sat at his father’s side and watched him leave,Continue reading “The Prodigal’s Dog”
Jeffrey A. Nelson 