by Susan L. Leary
All fiction begins with the exposure
of a nest. In winter: tin rain. The grass
vanished. A medieval take on sky
& earth. To say childhood is trending
is not preposterous in the least. I lived
here & in a single day, I grew up.
A tumbling of saplings, then a tumbling
of hierarchies. Every tree but one
erased. An aristocrat, beneath the gaunt limbs,
in a velvety cloak examining the earth
with his thoroughly oversized eye. &
because all fiction is action, I count the bones
alongside him. I count every frayed
wing placed inside a bowl that is really
my skull made of twigs. Remnant
as remnant as proof of healing as false proof
of sky. Again, I begin in a room I
cannot touch. One that is image husked
of all drama. & do you believe me? The faint
prickling inside my hand, when opened:
pollen, spring …
Susan L. Leary is the author of six poetry collections, including SENTENCE, selected by Eugenia Leigh to win the Nine Syllables Press Chapbook Contest and forthcoming in fall 2026; More Flowers (Trio House Press, 2026); and Dressing the Bear (Trio House Press, 2024), selected by Kimberly Blaeser to win the Louise Bogan Award. She holds an MFA from the University of Miami and lives in Indianapolis, IN.