“You’re in line.”

I fall asleep on the suicide hotline

If you kiss me now our eyes
will close and we will
push against each other
like fruit vying for the light,

In the nightpain of loving
our eyes will slowly open
and your face will wilt
until its cheeks and crevices
dim under the sad symmetry of
our public lives.

If you kiss me now I will forget
the grown repair of skirt alone
in the loud sound of memory
as it slips ever so gently away.


Caroline Shank

So many poems
and stories
have gone unwritten
due to fear of not being good enough

she knew then
the ways of this world

she knew then
of clenched fists

she knew then
her future
her place
her face, and all the weight that it carried

she knew then
of all the doors shut

she knew
she knew
she knew

of incomparable power

of beautiful strength

of divinity and all that is sacred

of wisdom and benevolence

she knew
she knows
we know


so she straightened her crown and rose

Love is a
four letter word-
As so is time.

As the love-
you have for one;
Is time you spend.

The time in love
as what to give-
Also a four letter word.

Spend the time
you give to one-
To the fullest,
as to show true love.