V.S. Ramstack
melospiza melodia
hungrier than usual for a song sparrow, its heart 1.04% of
its body’s weight, and what if i measured my failures in this way?
lately, my stove refuses to light and i think it just as well. no longer
kindling easily erupted, no longer cocaine kindly sitting in the cabinet.
when in brightest lamplight you see my hands, remember the way a brain
falls asleep. it’s clear you haven’t been listening, yet i refuse to fault you.
i suppose i want to be mirrored, a solitary flightless moment—scraping earwax into
my poorly clipped fingernail. i want that eardrum to be so still.
the cicadas crying at our feet, the little sandstorm in our periphery
if things could’ve been simple, i suppose they would’ve been
V.S. Ramstack is a poet breathing in Chicago. She received her BA in English + Gender, Women, & Sexuality studies from the University of Minnesota and her MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Previous work can be found in Across the Margin, Uppagus, The Spotlong Review, DIALOGIST, and elsewhere.