by Ali P. Welker
because when i fall asleep i dream of falling in love & i don’t mean
to mistake my delight for peace but the trouble with prince
charming isn’t that he’s make-believe it’s a smell or spell that stains
my sheets & the silhouette of a brown-haired boy slips into my sleep
with flesh that spills softly between wispy lips & there’s a vignette
as a never-sway with melancholy like the voice of voir dire & a
turnover of lover lugging tides blue as her eyes with the wash of my
morning sugar pill that begs me not to kiss & tell of the hour to
sing sea shanties by my beloved with the before-birds tweeting as if
time is space with a side of ringless worms & beaks that keep akin
to she who has always risen as within dreamy darkness there’s a
knowing & naming of this type of sin as the hypnic jerk only
comes with the fear of falling in
Ali P. Welker (she/her) is a dark-red-wine-stained type of poet. As a resident wayward writer, her mind circles sociopolitical issues, grief, and the beauty of small things. Usually, you can find her wandering the library, binge-watching documentaries, or napping with her dog, Koda.
Ali’s poem “Leaving the Nest” was featured in Monsoon Season: Flood Memory.