On those afternoons
when I feel most fraught,
broke as a joke,
I breathe with the trees.
Yes, my children’s laughter.
Yes, my dog’s wagging tail.
Yes, when my lover puts his lips on me
wherever he wants.
There are places where sweet tea
with lemon is served year-round.
Think of it! Fresh brewed.
Frosted glass.
Because some days there is no mercy,
I’m counting my remaining supply
of moments in the troubled light.
When I tear basil from the garden
I nurtured all summer,
even as it begins to bolt,
the smell lingers on my fingers
long after I crush it.
January Gill O'Neil
January Gill O'Neil is an associate professor at Salem State University, and the author of Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. From 2012-2018, she served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, and currently serves on the boards of AWP and Montserrat College of Art. Her poems and articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day series, American Poetry Review, Green Mountains Review, Poetry, and Sierra magazine, among others. The recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, O'Neil was the 2019-2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. She lives with her two children in Beverly, MA.
