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After Rain

Look up robot,

the night owl’s a slim oval of flame, a flicker,

or two fiery jaws open for something to drop.

 

Tonight the wind’s calm like before. 

Mild’s the word. 

No chasing or being chased.

You could be anywhere.

 

I want to belt something out:

We need to shorten all words. Abbreviate everything.

Shira Dentz is the author of five books including SISYPHUSINA (PANK Books), winner of the Eugene Paul Nassar Prize 2021, and two chapbooks including FLOUNDERS (Essay Press). Her writing appears in many venues including Poetry, American Poetry Review, VOLT, Cincinnati Review, Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, jubilat, Pleiades, Denver Quarterly, Black Warrior Review, Diagram, Colorado Review, Idaho Review, New American Writing, Brooklyn Rail, Apartment, Lana Turner, Academy of American Poets" Poem-a-Day Series (Poets.org), Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, Poetrysociety.org, and NPR, and she’s a recipient of awards including an Academy of American Poets Prize and Poetry Society of America's Lyric Poem and Cecil Hemley Awards.

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