This is Morning 

when our broken
sleep folds each face
we love and miss
into the vulnerable
flavors of raw oyster
and the spent petal
sentiment horizons out
so far that surface
tempers like opals
stretching beyond opaque
and just like all who live
by innards the slippery
machinery beneath
works endlessly
to divert our eyes
from our saline switches

Clarissa Adkins is a co-author of “Chair Yoga for You, a Practical Guide.” Her flash fiction appeared in Nailpolish Stories: A Tiny and Colorful Literary Journal and her poetry in Writers Against Prejudice. Currently, she is working on her MFA in poetry with Lesley University’s low-residency program in Cambridge, MA. Clarissa teaches yoga and high school English in Richmond, Virginia, and she just became an intern reader for Sugar House Review.

Why poetry matters:

Poetry matters because it can uniquely express how we are together in our aloneness. This depth of connection is an endless comfort.