by Shoshana D. Kerewsky
You left me standing among familiar names,
in the dead grass.
You left me under a leafless tree
in the company of acorns bad with grubs.
You left me dreaming while awake, you left me
thirsty, with an empty cup
marked with an eye,
you left me crouched under the full moon, years
too late, you left me
clutching a laurel wreath, not knowing
what I’d won.
Shoshana D. Kerewsky (she/her, ze/zer) writes poetry, fiction, lyrical nonfiction, memoir, essay, and haibun. Her work has appeared in fiction international, 96th of October, Sojourner, La Concha, Crab Creek Review, Northeast Journal, Little Patuxent Review, QUIX, Locust Shells Journal, Responsible Travel Guide Cambodia, Which Lilith? Feminist Writers Re-Create the World’s First Woman, Every Woman I’ve Ever Loved: Lesbian Writers on Their Mothers, and elsewhere. Her books are the award-winning memoir Cancer, Kintsugi, Camino, 50 Days in May: Reflections Along the Camino de Santiago, and novel The Codex of Christian Surname. Shoshana teaches with Chuckanut Writers and Whatcom Community College.
Shoshana’s poem “Rondeau: I wore nothing” was featured in Special Issue ’25 After Dark.