BALLAD STANZAS FOR A DREAM SELF

my head is trope-ish in its net
awash with holy thoughts.
my tongue obedient to nothing but
that which my soul had taught.

where did she go, my brainy dear,
her purse filled up with cherries?
her path lay pocked with shiny pits—
to keep good time, she tarried

catching fast an eely sound
the sandy soil unyielding—
she found my bed a tourniquet,
my heart a pump annealing.

wanting to release a tune
of slim and worthy fervor,
I take a pearl into my mouth
and render new a shiver.

BALLAD STANZA FOR A NEW YEAR

what do I know of Alpenglow
that comes not from detergent?
let’s claim our minds for dirty crimes
and make our lust insurgent.

Kelly Hoffer is a poet and book artist. Her debut collection of poetry, UNDERSHORE (2023), was selected by Diana Khoi Nguyen as the winner of the Lightscatter Press Prize. She currently teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan as the Helen Zell Visiting Professor in Poetry. Learn more at https://www.kellyrosehoffer.com/.