Current Issue: Spring/Summer 2011

Questions I Ask Myself 
Sara Wallace

have you seen the sun on the dirt

the ground cigarette the foil wrapper

the wall of jumbled stones dividing this dirt from that dirt

the lush tree swaying over the dirt

the bark soft like grey suede

clouds of blue and green inside

have you looked

the passing dazzle of westwardly breezing clouds

the crawling ladybug’s spread wings

have you loved the mud covered spoon left under the bell tower

have you seen yourself in the gravel the scattering of twigs and yes the small purple wildflowers

were you happy thinking this is what it feels like to be the rubble the worm crawls through

were you lonely because you still know nothing of love

 

Sara Wallace holds an MFA from New York University. Her poems have been published in Grand Street, North American Review, Cream City Review, Diner, The Midwest Quarterly, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the recipient of the 2008 Beau Boudreaux Poetry Prize for her poem “You.” She lives and teaches in New York City.