Sarah Wolfe

We shop on Sundays for our last meal, Poetry

Bisphenol A (BPA) in the baby’s bottle.

emulsifiers preserving brightly colored boxes on long shelves,

& a horde of inflamed intestines.

casual class 1 carcinogens served next to fried eggs every A.M. & used to treat acne in

women. Just women though.

two pumps of pumpkin spice in your latte to rot your brain, so that we don’t think—

plastic bottled water is marketed as fresh from the earth,

but not served in something not of it.

we know this in our leaky guts;

it’s not left or right.

the most micro of microplastics—

found in our brains, blood, breastmilk, & semen.

the bleached teabag in your mug as you sip,

and read these words:

people on death row

pick their last meal,

and we

shop on Sundays

for

ours.

I think the Whip-poor-will knows, Poetry

Every summer since I was 6 my Dad and I would have a contest,

whoever heard the first call of Whip-poor-will,

would be Reigning Supreme of the Solstice.

I would wait all year for the land to cycle to full bloom.

And for Jersey’s emblems of panting air and mélange skies

for the first mating call; to secure my rightful title.

On sticky nights I’d mediate on the chorus of cicadas and crickets

Waiting for the encore, of the long-awaited Antrostomus vociferus

Years later some heard of our tradition and said

the Whip-poor-will is a harbinger of death, and its song one should never listen

They said it senses when a soul leaves its body

I think they got it half-right and half-wrong

I think the Whip-poor-will knows when you touch the ground with bare feet.

I think the Whip-poor-will knows when your eyes reflect the Strawberry moon.

I think the Whip-poor-will knows when wild winds comb your hair.

I think the Whip-poor-will knows how your spirit flies with them (even just for a moment).

I think the Whip-poor-will knows the human ego momentarily dies,

and you remember we are all one.

And into the green arms of the original Mother;

You run.

Bio: Sarah Wolfe’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including The Orchard Poetry Journal, Cathexis Northwest Press, Synkroniciti, Bitter Melon Review, Willows Wept Review, Misfit Magazine, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and other places. She earned a BA in Communication and Media Arts from Montclair State University, with minors in English and Film. We shop on Sundays for our last meal was also featured in Catalogue Zine.