when a cluster of

light suddenly appears—

K’s unplanned pregnancy
the mourning of M’s mother
one year passed—

& illuminates
the coordinates of your own losses—

the streetlamp’s trail across our blue blanket
the child who would walk by now
a second mother—

constellations that can be charted

with a breath

Swallow them

exhale

 

---

 

Sarah Ehrich earned her MFA from Emerson College. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, the Missouri Review online, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and JuxtaProse. She is Assistant to the Director at the Blacksmith House Poetry Reading Series. Connect with her at sarahehrich.com.