This selection, chosen by guest editor john compton, is from Scavenger by Jessica Lynn Suchon (YesYes Books 2024).
Equinox
Somewhere in Illinois, our names are carved in stone.
My muscles remember it—the seizing of skin
as I clutched a small knife and shredded the earth’s bone
beneath the steel blade. Tell me there was reason for this,
that he, too, thought something so simple could save us.
Warmed by new sun, the frozen lake splintered open.
Winter uncurled its cold fists. Snow blackened
into the dead grass as we buried
the memory of our bodies in the wet footpaths.
Please, let me love this memory, just this one.
Let me recall the way the bluffs swallowed us whole,
the way we realized how small we were, how brief—
a scattered shadow, a freckle on his arm.
Jessica Lynn Suchon is the author of Scavenger, winner of the 2018 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest from YesYes Books. She completed her MFA at Southern Illinois University where she received honors from the Academy of American Poets. Her work was featured in Best New Poets 2021 and was awarded fellowships from Aspen Words and Tennessee Playwrights Studio. Jessica’s poems have appeared in Copper Nickel, Willow Springs, Ninth Letter, Yemassee, The Pinch, Muzzle Magazine, and RHINO Poetry, among others. Her debut stage play Shopgirls premiered at the Dark Horse Theater Chapel in Nashville as part of the 2019 Tennessee Playwright Festival. Jessica’s librettos have debuted internationally in performances by EKMELES Vocal Ensemble, the Eureka Ensemble, and the Albany Symphony, among others. She currently lives in Philadelphia with her husband Josh and sweet pup Gracie.
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