East Region

after Nordic Italian, 2022 by Sophia Chiodo (Racine Art Museum)

Sophia has heard the venom in your

groundhog day words

knows

days like the back of the moon

so rarely

kissed by the sun

every river

has run salty from cheeks.

Sophia

has filled a necklace of ears

with all the opinions of who she should be

and what she should do,

meowling cats

repeating the same calls

pretending to be the fates.

But most of all,

Sophia blazes,

forward like a comet flown free

too

happy

too

driven

for small souls like us

too used

to talking about who she isn't