Diagnosis
by Megan Merchant
This body is codependent with tenderness.
I will wear only soft grey fabrics—
a cliffhanger to mourning.
The morning unscrolls an agenda of rain
and blur ahead. A reminder that there is a before,
but only in the after.
From here, I can see my neighbour rise for coffee
in the slit of light between trees. Animal body.
Vellum. Almost a dance. We are alive,
which means we are both awaiting results.
Tell me, do the ravens hold their breath as they
dive and arrow? My love grasps my hand
for the slightest second. A chipped dish of a moment,
too soon scraped clean.
Megan Merchant (she/her) is the owner of www.shiversong.com and holds an M.F.A. degree from UNLV. She is a visual artist and, most recently, the author of A Slow Indwelling (Harbor Publications) and Hortensia, in winter (Winner of the New American Poetry Prize). She is the Editor of Pirene’s Fountain.