by Stephanie Kendrick
Somehow it all ends up here—
her Marlboros disintegrate
in a warm can of half-drunk Pepsi,
her mother urned on my mantel,
her.
In August, cicada shells turn
to powder under my heels. I know
I must have inhaled dozens.
I feel their birth-song screech,
sandpaper its way down my throat
and I am left
with her face, a thousand grains of sand,
her smile, finding its way back
only in my head—
every single one of us ready
to be carried away
by a sudden breeze.
Stephanie Kendrick is the 2023-2025 Poet Laureate in Athens, Ohio. She is the author of In Any of These Towns (Sheila Na Gig Editions), Editor of Native Fruit: Poetry and Fine Art Inspired by the Pawpaw, and the editor of a local poetry newsletter, Periodical Poetry. Stephanie hosts a monthly open mic Words & Wine on Wednesdays, every 2nd Wednesday of the month. With a Master of Social Sciences from Ohio University, she serves her community in a variety of ways, including through her career at Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and her service on various local Boards of Directors.