~taken from a line in Harry Martinson’s Aniara, Section 72, The Song of Karelia

Memories are sugar cubes on the tongue, so good
at first taste, but then they dissolve, leaving that
sweet recollection. After days of dried meteor rocks sometimes
I have flashbacks—recall zest, eggs and butter coupled with coffee—as we
debate if the black family really can win Family Feud. Then, I almost forget
how long we’ve been gone—the missed summers and springs, the only known things.

Contributor’s Notes

celeste doaks is the author of Cornrows and Cornfields, and editor of the poetry anthology Not Without Our Laughter. Her chapbook, American Herstory, was Backbone Press’s first-place winner in 2018. Herstory contains poems—which have been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum—about the artwork former First Lady Michelle Obama chose for the White House. A university professor for over a decade, Doaks is also a 2022 Yaddo fellow. Her work has appeared in multiple US and UK on-line and print publications including Ms. Magazine, The Millions, Huffington Post, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Hopkins Review, and many others. Find out more at www.doaksgirl.com