Skill and Chance

drive me into the desert     dreamer
dislodge the plural parentheses     of my rib
bones and     curl here in the carry     the sand rising

in waves     walls around us
once the sand subsides     name the
scrub for me     creosote mesquite acacia

cool me in the slot canyon of dialect of song
lay me out in the stars     bracket
me a roving constellation     vegas is too

blaze for all this counting of
cards     and me     sunsick and giddy
an almost royal flush     slipping from

the deck to light on green velvet     to
the cheers of the stained glass
princes     the stars and the

sand waiting     with the ripe agave and the 
promises of the succulent     the sweet

Ecosystem, Exoskeleton

we protect
ourselves with whorls
we spin in the
water     we spin and we sing

we listen for the key changes
we look to the     locks

what weapons do i use to kill
the world     what weapons
do i carry do i keep

how are they silent how
are they sound
how are they beautiful     beautiful and dead

what are my weapons in the snow
against the snow     against the sky

why do i fight
the sky     why do i
fight myself

the more we have
fences     the more
we need language

all our flying is
fugitive     what is
transcendence but     feeling

Laura S. Marshall (she/they) is a poet, educator, and former linguist who lives outside Albany, NY. Their work appears in South Dakota Review, Bennington Review, juked, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. She received her MFA in poetry from UMass Amherst, and has served as a special features editor for jubilat.

Published January 15 2023