Morning Blue

By Abigail Michelini

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The wind breathes on the curtain
            and blue light slips 
her slender legs in our sheets.

Layers of mornings
            stacked like blankets 
with the edges
            peeking through return:

mornings where my feet
            have long been striking down the dark
                        till finally blue 
            spills like hope over the horizon;

twenty-something mornings after
            when day cracked open like a mouth,
                        sticky and wet;

mornings in bed with my babies,
                        breastfeeding and in love 
            with their fuzz, their translucent fingernails,
watching emotions storm across their open 
            brow and slouchy cheeks.
 
And this morning, my husband’s back
            all steady breath until 
our children bounce in, 
            tweeting in their high voices 
news of the blue blue sky. 

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Abigail Michelini teaches writing at Northampton Community College. Her work can be found in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, The Main Street Rag, and Whale Road Review, among other publications. Her debut chapbook, Brace, was published by Thirty West Publishing House in May 2025. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with her kids and running Pennsylvania roads. Find her at abigailmichelini.com.

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