RACHEL SMALL

★ ★ ★ ★

POETRY

Methods of Coping

The only day I ever truly
recognized was dust on the wind

while I shuffled through day old laundry
just so I could wash every single item of
clothing that I owned

& maybe the problems began when I burned
cookies to ash, forgetting the tea on the sideboard
like an afterthought, & plucking out hairs

to create some migration trail of reliability

& maybe I didn’t want to drown sinking into
the kitchen floor in the middle of winter,
watching water churn with falsetto scents

of lavender, suds mixing with every worn
costume & maybe it was allowed

passing under watery winter light, breathing
in rhythm to the washer, drifting like dust

on the wind.

Rachel Small is based outside of Ottawa, and is exactly one half of Splintered Disorder Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in magazines including Thorn Literary Magazine, blood orange, The Hellebore, The Shore, bywords, and other places. She was the recipient of honourable mention for the John Newlove Poetry Award for her poem “garbage moon and feminist day”. You can find her on twitter @rahel_taller

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