She sang

On the top of Willa Wilkins’ wish list was a brand new mic. Willa Wilkins’ voice was moonlike, mosslike, ghostlike, starlike, fernlike, eyelike, makes you feel like warm weather. Willa Wilkins sang red song, moan song, spine song. She sang death song, distance song, diamond song. She sang future song, plan song, symbol song. Willa Wilkins sang, Here’s a hole in which I put things. Fortune song, creature song, cry song. Willa Wilkins’s sad songs were not premonitions. She did not sing to the later condition. She sang what she saw. Raw song, withdraw song, willow song, water song. Singing here song, elsewhere song.

Originally published in Bat City Review Issue 14

Emily Pettit is a poet, artist, editor and teacher, and the author of Goat in the Snow. She has taught and lectured at Columbia University, the University of Iowa, the University of Massachusetts, Elms College, and Smith College. Emily is an editor for Factory Hollow Press and jubilat