The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Constellation of Freckles by Keri Withington

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Grace

Pull up a pew. If a pew won’t
do, if the back cramps, pull
up anything.

Leave Calvin out of it.

Or don’t. We wander, finger
Dogwood buds, petals pink
or white, curled tight as
fists.

I count by twos
blades of grass between
bare toes,
acorns.

You count crosses in tree
bark, portraits in
cumulus,
signs.

Plasma burns either way.
27 million degrees over every
church door, pagoda, temple.

Star
-light travels just as far
to monophyletic Redwoods,
cyanobacteria blooms,
synchronized fireflies.

I gather constellations of
freckles, swallow songs,
alpine strawberries.

We are alive here.

This selection comes from Constellation of Freckles, available from Dancing Girl Press. Purchase your copy here! Our curator for this selection is Shannon Wolf.

Keri Withington is an Appalachian based poet and educator. Her work has previously appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.Her first chapbook is Constellation of Freckles from Dancing Girl Press. Her second chapbook, Beckoning From the Waves, is forthcoming from Plan B Press. As well as writing, Withington is an assistant professor of English at Pellissippi State Community College. Her writing explores themes of feminism, family, and nature. Shannon Wolf is a British writer and teacher, living in Louisiana. She is currently a joint MA-MFA candidate in Poetry at McNeese State University. She is the Non-Fiction Editor of The McNeese Review, and Social Media Intern for Sundress Publications. She also holds an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction (which can also be found under the name Shannon Bushby) have appeared in The Forge and Great Weather for Media, among others. You can find her on social media @helloshanwolf.