Hunger
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
I suck in each brittle breath,
as my windpipe closes
around the thin flow
that sticks at the base of my throat,
then sears into my waiting lungs.
We call it air hunger.
Is this what suffocation
feels like, or maybe
drowning?
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Ties That Bind
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
This illness breaks me
into three tied and tattered
threads—mine, hers, theirs,
a long narrative that ruptures,
compounds once, then
again, just when
we thought it all was
coming to its overdue
post-viral close.
One mother, with two
daughters, three
years apart in birth
and now in illness.
Nothing alike but in this
wretched timeline
sixteen is an age
of possibility spoiled
and spoiled again.
This ending remains
out of reach and it
does not resolve
with an easy breath
or a blown
wish.
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Pressured Speech
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
The impulse
to speak after years
of sorrow
and silence
builds along with the pressure
brewing in your head.
This is not
a coincidence.
Will your voice
break free or
will your brain block all outlets
before the release?
The words burst
forth in fits, starts, caught
in a loop.
New ideas
unvoiced within a bubble
that snuffs them out.
There is weight
behind each word and
it sputters
forth again,
again, until the release
valve finally opens.
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In-Between Days
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
Each day here
coughs
and sputters, runs low
on fuel, just like before
but worse
because
the experts proclaim
this chapter has come
to a close.
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About the Author
Ann E. Wallace is Poet Laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey. Her new poetry collection, Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in February 2024. She is the author of Counting by Sevens (Main Street Rag) and has previously published work in Wordgathering, along with many other journals, including Halfway Down the Stairs, Snapdragon, and Gyroscope Review. You can follow her online at AnnWallacePhD.com and on Instagram @annwallace409.