in dreams a      where
a hole      should be      a body
pregnant      with ache, with
words      don’t mean
you, what is      who
and where to      find, fix
the shimmer      wind licked
prismatic, amphibious      lung-
tied but fervent     for gills, water
bound      but winged
the lacunae of

Maine native Anastasia Walker is a queer poet, essayist, and scholar living in Pittsburgh. Her poems have appeared in several journals, and her first book of poetry, The Girl Who Wasn’t and Is, was published in February 2022. Her essays have been published in Shenandoah, Fourth Genre, and The Rambling. She has also blogged on politics, social media, and LGBTQ+ issues for both Huffington Post and Medium. She’s a proud member of her community’s PFLAG chapter and Indivisible group, a passionate amateur photographer and musicologist, and a lover of long walks and (when she visits home in the summers) swimming in the ocean. Her blog: https://anastasiaswalker.blogspot.com/.