Magic Hour

Earth is waking from a coma
at the bottom of the lake

where your father drowned,
disrupting the fish
while we slept for eight
nights

like tangled
Christmas lights,
first breath

it’s natural to be afraid
of ghosts, a man’s memory,
that hour when we were
on earth alone
 
 
 
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (forthcoming 2016, ELJ Publications) & Xenos (forthcoming 2017, Agape Editions). She received her MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine. Some of her writing has appeared in Prelude, The Atlas Review, The Huffington Post, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. She leads workshops at Brooklyn Poets.