Laurie Filipelli
Laurie Filipelli is the author of a collection of poems, Elseplace, released by Brooklyn Arts Press in 2013. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming at apt, BOAAT, Coldfront, The Pinch, Redheaded Stepchild, The Rumpus, Salamander, So and So, and Xavier Review. She is the recipient of a Yaddo fellowship, and resides in Austin where she works as a writer, editor, and writing coach.
Warrior
Sleep: my stupid last-year
person, stooping to pick up
whatever falls (so much
with scraps of fever building
a time machine—old cane,
Christmas needles). Awake
a chain hooks my Achilles.
The yard is small, the moon
still on the neighbors’ side.
We are playing Orpheo
Looks Back. You hand me
fishtails, shimmering clues.
A guardhouse birded by
a porcelain cat. A trash bag
taking flight. When I step
on a scale, its metal arm
pushes me shorter. Between
one and ten, this pain
is a three which means
I am free to go home.