This selection, chosen by guest editor Kenli Doss, is from Hush by Nikki Ummel (Belle Point Press 2023).
After the Flood
We took with us
things immediate:
dog leash by the door,
overripe bananas,
fresh underwear folded
in the basket by the stairs.
it was not enough. We
wrung our hands nightly,
hundreds of miles away.
Word of mouth birthed
new rivers within us.
All washed clean. We wait
for the river water to stop
being greedy. Lifetimes.
What will they say, our
descendants, when our home
reemerges, when the water
recedes, of our chipped
pho bowls, the blown glass
bong? Will they know the love
we shared? Our record player,
clammed shut. Still spinning
Fats Domino.
Nikki Ummel is a queer writer, editor, and educator in New Orleans. Nikki’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, The Georgia Review, and more. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and twice awarded an Academy of American Poets Award. She is the 2022 winner of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize. You can find her wandering around Holy Cross with her beautiful dog and equally beautiful partner.
Kenli Doss holds a BA in English and a BA in Theatre-Performance from Jacksonville State University. She is a freelance writer and actress based out of Alabama, and she spends her free time painting scenes from nature or writing poetry for her mom. Ken’s works appear in Something Else (a JSU literary arts journal), Bonemilk II by Gutslut Press, Snowflake Magazine, The Shakespeare Project’s Romeo and Juliet Study Guide and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Study Guide, and The White Cresset Arts Journal. 
