In twenty years, we’re going to run out of spaces for new residents. The bright light surveilled the parking lot that once housed water. When I was young, I used to climb to the top of the tower just to see past a tall building. It was a novelty to feel, against my back, the weight of a wave contained, trapped in pre-stressed concrete. From the sky, it must have seemed like I was thirsty, but in reality I was bloated and fucked. Who wasn’t? Filled with a need for liquid treasure and a garden that blooms year round. The only green space in this city was a vertical lawn, a rising wall capitalizing on the human desire for natural growth. It was a fantasy, an upturned gaze into the clouds. Hot air rose from the street grate, late summer sewage, a threshold I could not pass.
Amanda Maret Scharf is a poet from Los Angeles. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry at Ohio State University where she served as Poetry Editor for The Journal. Hannah Smith is a writer from Dallas, Texas. She received an MFA in poetry at the Ohio State University, where she served as the Managing Editor of The Journal. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Ninth Letter, Mississippi Review, and elsewhere.
It’s Give Miami Day! As a newly established 501(c)(3), this is our first time participating. If you’re able, please consider giving us your support so that we can continue to bring you poems every weekday as well as support our wider community with residencies and readings. Check out our link here: www.givemiamiday.org/organization/Swwim.
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
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