SMOKE
by Kelly Cressio-Moeller
When we bury
smoldering fires of desire,
the body fills with dense smoke
and every vow we make
steeps in ashes. Wrap
your regrets in the tight skin
of supple leaves, so no light
or air filters in. Walk to a river,
release them into the steady
current—watch as they drift
then disappear into the world
without you.
-
Kelly Cressio-Moeller is a poet and visual artist. Her poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Gargoyle, Guesthouse, North American Review, Poet Lore, Radar Poetry, Salamander, Southern Humanities Review, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Water~Stone Review, and ZYZZYVA among others. Her debut collection, Shade of Blue Trees, is forthcoming from Two Sylvias Press. She is an associate editor at Glass Lyre Press. Visit her website at www.kellycressiomoeller.com
- Italicized line from David Whyte’s poem “Out on the Ocean” in River Flow: New and Selected Poems–1984-2007 (Many Rivers Press, 2007) ©David Whyte
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