JOAN KWON GLASS

★ ★ ★ ★

POETRY

Image by Ahmed Sheikh

The Last Time I Held My Sister

After “Once I” by Jane Hirschfeld

Once I
was not yet nameless
no word for a sister who unbecomes
her weary body imprinted itself against mine
a night forest formed around us

I combed moondust
into her ponytail
with my fingers
held her as close as I could
the twigs and leaves broken beneath her
my cheek pressed against her back

on this last night
there was so little light
but it was just enough
and she was still alive

above us
starlings scattered
to clear a path
for what would come next

Joan Kwon Glass is Poet Laureate (2021-2025) for the city of Milford, CT and a public educator of 20 years. She is a biracial Korean American who holds a B.A. & M.A. from Smith College & is Poetry Co-Editor for West Trestle Review. Her poems have recently been published or are forthcoming in trampset, Rust & Moth, Rattle, SWWIM, Honey Literary, Porcupine Lit, Literary Mama, Barnstorm, Poets Reading the News, South Florida Poetry Journal & others & she is is working on two chapbooks.  Joan has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize. She tweets @joanpglass and you may read her previously published work at www.joankwonglass.com.

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