APRIL 20

by Dagny Felker

The future can wait until next week I’m busy now burning
the candle at both ends
or should I say spluttering
or should I say biting the wick
waxy mouthed

jaws ache on chipped white
and the stare grows painfully long blood in body and mind
the end is an empty
stomach tense muscle
ashen sparks and drowned light

Dagny Felker is a recent graduate from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently serving with Americorps as an ESL Instructor for Pittsburgh’s immigrant and refugee communities. She lives, reads, and bides her time in a big, old house in Squirrel Hill.

City of Asylum believes that All Pittsburghers are Poets. With the Poem of the Week series, we seek to increase the readership and appreciation of poetry locally by publishing poems written by residents of Allegheny County of all ages and levels of experience. In partnership with the Poetry Editors at Sampsonia Way Magazine, City of Asylum advances our mission to defend, celebrate, and build on creative freedom of expression. This project received a RADical ImPAct Grant from the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).