numbers happen close behind my eyes
I see little figures running to meet each other
then they join and jump up and down
plus plus pulse
on my right is the day after your death
make me walk that path
on my left is the night you told me to wait
with your last breath
above me a room of cats
I see them running to the fields
below me a well made of rocks I wash
in my washing machine
and if I turn on the radio
what will happen to the citizens?
and if I turn to leave the room
what will transpire?
by the shore, the birds invite us
the moon sends down ruins on us
we work on the moon
once I was invited but only once
then I was ruined
I’m ancient now and over the moon
moon stares at me through the night
and spreads her beams on my blankets
Mary Meriam studied poetry at Columbia University (MFA) and Bennington College (BA). She works as an editor and publisher of lesbian poetry and art, and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas. Her most recent poetry collection is Pools of June (Exot Books, 2022). Her poems have appeared in Literary Imagination, Literary Matters, Poetry, Post Road, Prelude, Rattle, Subtropics, and The Poetry Review.