Anne Cecelia Holmes’ “Pledge Drive”

by Jen Tynes

Here’s another excerpt from our forthcoming collaborative chapbook, PLEDGE DRIVE, which you can purchase via our spring pre-order and subscription drive! You can also pre-order Anne Cecelia Holmes’ full-length book THE JITTERS, forthcoming in early July!

Pledge Drive

Anne Cecelia Holmes

Again I am caught in the dream
endlessly pulling hair
from my throat like some dumb
trick I haven’t given my consent.
My skills exceed my needs
except in this scenario.
It is enough to slam my fist
into something soft if
what I need is already gone.
Winter has a rhythm
like all seasons but watch
me try to dismantle it,
cry until not even weather
knows what to do with me.
I walk down the back
steps with a stride meant
for better days. I pledge
to make a better day if
I can squint at all ugliness
like a glow to shoulder
lightly. How else do we
behave in sham crisis.