top of page
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.
bottom of page