Wounded Beast

By Susan Milchman

(a golden shovel after INXS)

We are all secretly in love with the scent of a storm coming. the awakening of an unknown. Your

absence casts a haunt that holds me like a knife. / Every wounded beast knows / the herd moves

away from the injured / in an untraceable moment / in a silent tear down the middle. / You are

the dark corner my body belongs to. / I am the wound that waits patiently for blood to arrive / so

I wait / knowing my lineage will arrive like a sea storm. deep from my watershed. urgent & raw.

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Susan Milchman’s poetry has appeared in The Journal, Stirring, Sweet Tree Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, SWWIM Every Day, Rust+Moth, Rogue Agent, and elsewhere. She has poetry in the anthologies Bramble & Thorn, 2017 and haunted, 2022 (Porkbelly Press); forthcoming work can be found in the anthology, FINAL GIRL (Porkbelly Press, 2024). Susan’s poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net and her published work can be found at susanmilchman.com.

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• 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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