To lie down with another
admits we will die,
propelled from musky savannas
to flower-swept valleys
to whatever’s beyond. Even
the ball python winds herself
like a skein of variegated yarn
beside the smooth scales
of another. At night, when temperatures
plummet, I coil and nest my skin
against my husband’s. The bronze cat
presses deep into the well my body’s
dug. The warmth not all we need.
—
Sandra Fees’s first full-length poetry collection is Wonderwork (BlazeVOX Books, 2024). A former Berks County Poet Laureate (Reading, PA), her poems have been published in Crab Creek Review, SWWIM, Nimrod, River Heron Review, Witness and other journals. You can learn more about her at sandrafees.com.
