This selection, chosen by Guest Curator Elizabeth Vignali, is from Lararium by Ray Ball, released by Variant Lit in 2020.
Dendroctonus rufipennis
At a party, a friend of a friend asks
do you have children?
And you respond
There are thirty times
more dead spruce
than five years ago.
They turned red
and then a discomfiting dun
after climate change
birthed a destiny of beetles—
manifest. Smaller trees can
flourish in a forest
of ghosts, but that
doesn’t always mean
that they do.
Latest posts by sundresspublications (see all)
- We Call Upon the Author to Explain—Timothy Geiger - May 4, 2026
- The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Apostasies by Holli Carrell - May 4, 2026
- Project Bookshelf: Rachel Bulman - May 1, 2026
