Amy Barone

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Sapphire Sighs

Weeping beech trees' branches
brush against the sun's carpet

as I endure the hazards
of overthinking—I deified

someone when she lost her voice
and freedom in golden years.

Traumatized by the cry—
not a frenzied elk bugling—

but a deep wail and dry tears
in the moment she realized

life would never be the same.
I slay this fierce bout of grief,

banish the question no one could answer—
What did she understand?

Amy Barone's latest poetry collection, Defying Extinction, was published by Broadstone Books in 2022. New York Quarterly Books published her book, We Became Summer. She wrote chapbooks Kamikaze Dance (Finishing Line Press) and Views from the Driveway (Foothills Publishing.) Barone lives in New York City and Haverford, PA. X: @AmyBBarone