After a photograph by Julie Adams My neighbor says whenever she’s sad she sits down with a cup of tea and writes a list of fifty things she loves, you know, like chocolate chip cookies, the fresh warmth of laundry spilled from the dryer, the crescent moon held between tree branches. I’m remembering this with my arms full of wet towels, the petition to stop fracking in the far pasture denied, my heart busted by that and other losses with their many sharp points. I didn’t know I loved so much of this vanishing world—early spring breeze rattling cattails along the pond, bright sword of sunlight on mountain snow, a toddler singing in the shopping cart, the boy who holds the door open for me, the car that waits, the promised rain that comes— and you, daughter, years before the fire that took the barn, before the divorce, before you moved to the city for work. I see you ambling home on your chestnut gelding, your long hair and his long tail, swinging the lasso as if you could capture the setting sun, to keep a perfect day from disappearing, to hold it like a flame inside your heart for the dark days to come.
Lisa Zimmerman’s poetry collections include How the Garden Looks from Here (Violet Reed Haas Poetry Award winner), The Light at the Edge of Everything (Anhinga Press), and Sainted (Main Street Rag). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Cave Wall, Poet Lore, Vox Populi, Cultural Daily, and many other journals. Her poems have been nominated for Best of the Net, five times for the Pushcart Prize, and included in the 2020 Best Small Fictions anthology.
02/13 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Alafia Sessions + local writer Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello / The BBar at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free
SWWIM Every Day is now accepting poetry translations for publication consideration. Please see swwim.org/submit for the full guidelines.
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 with a link to your news. (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.
This is a moving poem that feels especially powerful right now, at this moment in American life. "I didn't know I loved so much/of this vanishing world." How much is vanishing, and how fast! Yes, let us document what we love!
A snapshot of the present, past, and future all in one exposure!! Love how every line holds a verb. This is a poem I'll keep on my reading list, maybe because I have a daughter, or a flame in my own heart. Lovely poem.