
Ribboned plastic bag
enlaced within an elm tree;
robin weaves her nest.
© Nancy Botta, 2021
Ribboned plastic bag
enlaced within an elm tree;
robin weaves her nest.
© Nancy Botta, 2021
She keeps her compulsion
in a jaw set with grief
because busy mouths
and chatter teeth
will grind away time
and gnaw on memories
too lovely to keep.
© Nancy Botta, 2020
Blue mottled with black,
thick clouds clot above concrete—
right eye swollen shut.
© Nancy Botta, 2020
I strip off what’s left
just as you asked;
see here are my bones,
they rattle and clang
like teeth in a sink.
Whatever drips
is a mess on the floor;
see here is some hair,
wet and mashed
pulled from my throat.
I’m sorry for the stains
it’s all darker than I thought;
see here are my eyes,
punctured cornea
dribbling ink blots and salt.
It’s all gone
just cavities and echoes;
see here is where I end,
a vanishing fog
wishing you’d tell me to stop.
© Nancy Botta, 2020
Thousands of cameras
observe an empty city;
deer gaze at streetlights.
© Nancy Botta, 2020