maybe death isn’t deep and wet and cloying like / a well maybe death is /
a shallowing a / drying up / think of the pond that forms / in the valley
from snowmelt in the spring think of how / it shrinks with each hot /
summer day by august / it’s gone maybe our lives / are like that /

Janelle Cordero is an interdisciplinary artist and educator living in the seventh most hipster city in the U.S. Her writing has been published in dozens of literary journals, including Harpur Palate and The Louisville Review, while her paintings have been featured in venues throughout the Pacific Northwest. Janelle’s most recent poetry and art collection, Woke to Birds, was published in October of 2019 through Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. Her debut poetry collection, Two Cups of Tomatoes, was published in 2015, and her chapbook with Black Sand Press was published in April 2018. Janelle published an additional chapbook of poems and paintings with Bottle Cap Press in 2019. Stay connected with Janelle’s work at www.janellecordero.com.