by Linda Laderman
I am three thoughts away from the grave. Alone, I sometimes see coffins under sail. Endlessness enfleshed in emerald & frost & shades I couldn’t name without further study. The gray air molds. Geraniums heat the alleys. Jasmine and gasoline undress the night. I don’t know what to think of first in the list of all the things that are disappearing: fishes, birds, trees, flowers, bees, and languages too. What ties me to this earth? All I want to do right now is sleep Cento line sources in order from: Traci Brimhall, Robert Haas, Lines 3&4: Joshua Bennett, Lines 5&6:Bert Myers, Lines 7,8,9: Ada Limón, Ilya Kaminsky, Elaine Sexton. Linda Laderman is a Michigan poet and writer. Her poetry has appeared in, numerous literary journals, including Gyroscope, SWWIM, ONE ART, Thimble Literary Magazine, The Scapegoat Review, Rust &Moth, Third Wednesday, the Jackdaw Review, and Mom Egg Review. She is the 2023 recipient of Harbor Review’s Jewish Women’s Prize, and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her mini-chapbook, "What I Didn't Know I Didn't Know," is published online at Harbor Review. For nearly a decade she was a docent at the Zekleman Holocaust Center near Detroit.
January House Literary Journal 
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