Bellee Jones-Pierce
Aubade
We’d been out late. I drowsed as day broke red
through the window, your twin bed full of our bodies
and the smell of us, campfire still in our hair.
Warmth crawled through muscle from the scraps
of someone’s clothes now shaped like stars.
Some bird sang outside, I swear, and I thought
about the sun as you stood and arranged the quilts.
I rolled into the warmth you’d left behind. My finger
wound a loose thread and worried it. That morning
stays with me, a needle in white carpet, waiting.
Aubade
We’d been out late. I drowsed as day broke red
through the window, your twin bed full of our bodies
and the smell of us, campfire still in our hair.
Warmth crawled through muscle from the scraps
of someone’s clothes now shaped like stars.
Some bird sang outside, I swear, and I thought
about the sun as you stood and arranged the quilts.
I rolled into the warmth you’d left behind. My finger
wound a loose thread and worried it. That morning
stays with me, a needle in white carpet, waiting.
Bellee Jones-Pierce (say it like ‘believe’ without the ‘v’) is an assistant professor of English at Centenary College of Louisiana whose primary research areas are early modern literature, disability, and poetics. She holds a PhD in English from Emory University, an MA from the Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama, and an MFA from Georgia College & State University. Her work has appeared in RHINO Poetry, The Journal, Doubleback Review, Annulet, Wordgathering, Phoebe, tiny wren lit, and Susurrus. She is an associate poetry editor for Arcturus.
Bellee Jones-Pierce (say it like ‘believe’ without the ‘v’) is an assistant professor of English at Centenary College of Louisiana whose primary research areas are early modern literature, disability, and poetics. She holds a PhD in English from Emory University, an MA from the Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama, and an MFA from Georgia College & State University. Her work has appeared in RHINO Poetry, The Journal, Doubleback Review, Annulet, Wordgathering, Phoebe, tiny wren lit, and Susurrus. She is an associate poetry editor for Arcturus.