The grass curls under its frigid brown.
Sharp wind curls its insistent whining
around the bricked-up corners, edges
we typically call home, or these days,
I call it home. I look forward to hearth,
warming the stove, a kettle rumbling
a tiny rough ocean in a steel dome, lit
candles and an incense stick smoking
rose and jasmine in each room, soft
blankets and Egyptian cotton sheets,
a catalog of warmth where the floors
are swept clean, but the chill lingers
when I keep wondering will summer
ever come, and do arms that could
embrace me hibernate or evaporate.
Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue. She’s a co-editor of The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives about Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century and editor of the critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler’s memoir Adventures in Black and White. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Essence, Nylon, Lit Hub, and numerous anthologies. Currently, she teaches MFA students at Chicago State University, young poets at ChiArts High School for Performing Arts, and participants in the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Program at Stateville Prison.