My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 89

By
MEHA
SEMWAL

Inherited Soil, Colorado
How many bones, I wonder,
were crushed to make this soil
we inhabit rich with these pinewoods,
calcified nettleforrest, berries, columbine?

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By the time I get my camera out the black bear
is indistinguishable from the shadows, ossified
into the night like all the other expressions of affection
we open our mouth to say but, shy or embarrassed, forget.