n. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
—Ambrose Bierce
Dad understood she was unbalanced
back-to-back pregnancies tilting
her off axis, and then the hormones
hit her like a postpartum sleep
where she leaves the toddlers
in cribs, hungry enough to eat
red yarn gnawed off
Raggedy Ann’s head.
He’d had enough of her moods
had to leave, would sue later
for custody—like the flight
attendant says, he’d put on
his own mask, then try
to save the kids.
Jill Michelle is the author of Underwater (Riot in Your Throat, 2025) and Shuffle Play (Bottlecap, 2024) and winner of the 2023 NORward Prize for Poetry. Her newest work is forthcoming in The Florida Review, Free State Review, MQR: Mixtape, Pangyrus Lit Mag and Rogue Agent. She teaches at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Find more at byjillmichelle.com.