Double Jinx

She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin, where she is currently a doctoral candidate in composition and rhetoric. She lives in Madison, WI.

Alex Lemon for selecting this book and to the National Poetry Series and Milkweed Editions for supporting its publication.

With appreciation also for the institutions that have supported my development as a writer, particularly the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s MFA program and the University of Pittsburgh’s undergraduate Writing Program.

He’s been trailing her all over town. She hears

him just behind her on the sidewalk

walking home.

Days I wandered

through his many-chambered

heart and inside every empty room

I found a cabinet, locked. I didn’t need

the key.

He had words that lived for years

beneath my skin.

I am your twinned

and riven countryside.

As you have said, better

to marry than to burn and I am no one’s wife.

The long vowels say their names and I am the voice

sealed under glass.

When night sails down the howling

is dreadful.