To the Lesser Knot

A Better World is Possible, Ernest Volynec

 

 

For months, she wrote

only of estuaries, which is how I knew

she was leaving.

It was February when she began packing—

sweaters, her collection of dried leaves—

pieces of her vanishing as she would

 

if she stayed. At some point,

I began to help. Folding her mother’s linens

into the bag stowed in our closet,

 

I thought maybe

I could stow myself away, too—

snuggled against her rejection letters

 

and wool socks,

which had begun to unravel at the toes.

Maybe I had begun to unravel, too.

 

One day, I came home to stillness

and a book on estuarial wading birds

open on the ironing board.

 

 

About the Author

Cyndee Devereaux · University of Florida

Cydnee Devereaux earned her BA in English from the University of Florida, and she currently attends the MFA program at Vanderbilt University. “To the Lesser Knot” first appeared in TEA.

About the Artist

Ernest Volynec 

“A Better World is Possible” first appeared in Persephone’s Daughters.

No Comments

Leave a Reply