Commitment

By Shannon Quinn

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It’s #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day‘s archives!

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I trade you small pot of light
for key that sticks in door.

Our worst nights, coin toss
burn house or bed down.

Wool-drunk moths in sock drawer
judge our quiet violence and dime-bag sentiment

but then we have an early evening
you mostly sober, me mostly clean

thinking of every possible animal afterlife.

Prescription sleeping pills smuggle
us into sleep, where we are strangers.

Cross the street to avoid each other.
Drowning girl can’t climb
on another body, call it shore.

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Shannon Quinn is the author of three collections of poetry. She has a chapbook from JackPine Press coming out this November and two multi-disciplinary pieces forthcoming from Ponder Review. Her work was included in The Best of Canadian Poetry 2025. Quinn is based out of Toronto.

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