my girl, when you grow, if for no other reason
to admire how her trousers can still be clipped
seven to a row on the drying rack, how slight
the sleeves, how the fibers fray velvet
as thistledown, if for no other reason
to relish the smallness
of the time
that has passed
and time you might yet have
to hang her clothes on a line.
Renée Agatep is from the American Midwest but now lives with her family on the Portuguese island of Madeira. She is a poetry fellow in the Syracuse University MFA program and the winner of the 2022 Wolfson Poetry Prize. Her debut poetry chapbook, OHIO RADIO, is forthcoming from Wolfson Press in 2023. Her latest work can be found in Poetry Ireland Review, CAROUSEL, and elsewhere. You can find her on Twitter @GoingbyRenee.
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