It is clear to see why Fractures was the Winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, selected by Natasha Trethewey. It is emotional and raw in its delivery of profoundly looking into the past while keeping the reader rooted in the present’s social struggles.
I don’t mean to be ungrateful. / I was bred for wanting more, the way / a racehorse is bred for the win’s scent.
We look for the things that are irretrievable / in these minor folds of solitude. We fire, / we flood, we famine.
The star spangled banner blared at the start / and end of each day, and the spot / where we stood when it began was where / we’d stand for the duration.
Elders have stopped reading the news. We dream / of serious play down on our knees— / cat’s eyes, jacks, the kiss that’s for keeps.
When summer releases its hold, this isn’t my place / to hunker with a knife and cards / / and watch day delay starting.
