My breath catches on the creases at the corners of your eyes, that spell the history of joy across your face— like something dark, perched on your cheeks, sensing the telling tremors of an earthquake laugh pushed off for stormier soldiers, left only footprints behind.
Maggie Petrella (she/her) is a poet based in Buffalo, New York. Her work has appeared in Back Patio Press, dwelling literary, Southchild Lit, and others. She tweets @maggie_425.