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The Wheeling​​

wail in the morning,
wail in the evening, wail
until tears blot the sky.
wail in baby-gasps and bass-notes.
words just jibber. 

the body
an accordion that breathes
groans to blues, swells rage
to dirges sung in cathedrals
or primeval forests. hips
writhe tarantellas. 
 
we need the night. 
we need the wheeling 
and pale-pocked moon
to reconnect the pieces
strewn down
in the bone-dark marrow
of us. 
 
trace our scars 
with gold. until
one soft morning
we rise, wet
and blind.
 

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Nancy L. Meyer (she/her) is an intrepid cyclist and lazy cook from the Ramaytush Ohlone Bay Area. Her first book, The Stoop and The Steeple, was published in 2024 by Frog on the Moon Press. She has been twice nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her work appears in many journals including McNeese Review, Laurel Review, Sugar House Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Colorado Review. She is included in ten anthologies, among them Women in a Golden State, Dang I Wish I Hadn't Done That, and Crossing Class. Nancy is a recipient of a Hedgebrook Residency and a member of Salt & Poetry 

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