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J E S S I C A   P O L I

poem

JANUARY, LOOKING BACK

Putting the lights on 
as snow at the edge of town starts to fall 
recalling the slow spending 
of my days when I was twenty-six
arriving at the barn in the dark 
bowl of early morning to see the horses shadowed
in their stalls
and lights burning 
in the milking parlor across the valley
I could not have known then
what I was searching for was something
familiar     as in possibly known 
but imperfectly remembered




















 

Jessica Poli is the author of Red Ocher, which was a finalist for the 2023 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Patricia Smith. Along with Marco Abel and Timothy Schaffert, she co-edited the anthology More in Time: A Tribute to Ted Kooser, which won a 2022 Nebraska Book Award. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets, North American Review, Poet Lore, and Salamander, among other places. Originally from Pennsylvania, she is currently a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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