yarn, my grandmother
gave me
woven with hands my mother
made me
generations
keeping me warm
my mother painted
i forgot
i write
i forgot
my skin sags where i smile
i bask in the stillness
i waver in the sameness
did you yearn to run the way I do?
did you wish you stayed out west?
what we as women
become in staying
where we were born
moss sprouting on our skin
my grandmother begs me
to stay home
her eyes plead with me
grow
she said you planned
on arizona
and you passed
before the trip
i feel stuck more often than not
roots spread too deep
too far
i remind myself
you are magic
tender magic
a flame behold
smoldering surfaced
it’s time to go.
Madigan McDermott is an emerging poet from Elyria, Ohio who has been writing poetry for the last 10 years. While she has no formal education in literature, her nose has been buried in books and notebooks since she could walk. Outside of writing, Madigan enjoys being a hairstylist, getting out to the mountains, and spending time with her chihuahua’s.