cherry, mahogany any tree you want, I promise to grow in the cloud-shaded garden of our shared yard. you say the past is a rainstorm. the puddles are running. in potholes, small ducks stir up ripples. your coat slung over my arm. linden, birch whatever you want. just name it, and I will sow it. we huddled and watched as the drops whispered down, only I was a phantom. I could not have been there. it is all I can do now, seeds in my pockets, seeds overflowing in my hands. elm, fir I will pat them in the soil. water them with cupped palms. catch what falls from the bright sky. guard this land like a sentry, safekeep what blooms. if, in fact, this doesn’t let up for years, no matter. to gaze is a small thing. maple, ash in the café, I dug my nails into my flesh to keep from reaching for you. had to bite my inner lip to keep the words from gushing out. when I open my grip, the skin is marked: little half-moons everywhere. train cars on a starved track. cypress, oak or, not cars, but basins, vessels you could write your name in. call yourself vertigo, spinning sense as you laugh at the top of a tree. wind in your hair, all billowing, a gale snatching our voices. I am here now, no phantom. body raked like the earth where we bury our hearts.
Catherine Broadwall (formerly known as Catherine Kyle) is the author of Water Spell (Cornerstone Press, forthcoming 2025), Fulgurite (Cornerstone Press, 2023), Shelter in Place (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), and other collections. Her writing has appeared in Bellingham Review, Colorado Review, Mid-American Review, and other journals. She was the winner of the 2019-2020 COG Poetry Award and a finalist for the 2021 Mississippi Review Prize in poetry. She is an assistant professor at DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Get ready for Give Miami Day on November 16! As a newly established 501(c)(3), this will be our first time participating. If you’re able, please consider giving us your support. Check out our link here: www.givemiamiday.org/organization/Swwim. Note: Early giving has begun!
12/19 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Kristen Renee Miller / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
12/19 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Kristen Renee Miller + Arsimmer McCoy / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free
Are you a SWWIMmer with literary news to share (publication/feature/award/book/book review)? We’d love to shout out your accomplishments in our Weekly Spotlight! Please email swwimmiami@gmail.com. (No DMs on any social media platforms, please.)
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Bluesky for more updates—and visit our website to see past, present, and future readings & events.
**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.