Listen: [audio:firstissue/rogers.mp3]

Some days

I’m not on.

I hide inside

the city.

Someday I’ll say

thank you

for your invitation

to come see

the pilot whales

skim the coast

of Cape Breton.

Don’t tempt me.

I’m working

this summer

on inventing

the life I am

already living.

It takes practice

to see myself

without a mirror.

The ivy leaps over

the fence.

Next year

will be different.