They say my bursting body,
a Bouncing Betty, a bouncing
ball, red and wonderful, given
to me as a child, screamed
for my mother, a woman who
learned how to fall but forgot
to stand, to speak of death
waiting for us all (to breathe)
Reaching for the sky, I rose,
higher and higher for her –
by Laine Derr
Laine Derr has published interviews with Carl Phillips, Ross Gay, Ted Kooser, and Robert Pinsky. Work has appeared or is forthcoming from The Wells Street Journal, ROPES, Full Bleed + The Phillips Collection, The Amistad, ZYZZYVA, Portland Review, Prairie Schooner, Chapter House, and elsewhere.
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