Jennifer Lothrigelis a poet and artist residing in the San Francisco Bay area. She has just published her first chapbook through Liquid Light Press, titled ‘Pneuma’. Her work has also been published in Arcturus, Deracine, Rag Queen Periodical, Poetry Quarterly, NILVX and elsewhere.

The First Year of Marriage

We signed a contract, and mailed it to the county to record.
We bought expensive sheets for the first time,
washed them every Sunday
until they tattered,
then we bought new ones, a darker shade.
We toughed it leather-like when I couldn’t get out of bed.
You bought flowers once a week until you didn’t anymore.
The laminate floor boards began to peel.
We painted one wall red.
We planted a broken acacia tree whose trunk was held together by a plastic tie.
It grew tall and dropped sticky sap all over the patio
but we kept it because it was our first victory.
We inherited my grandmother’s expensive china
that we kept in a plastic box in the garage.
I took it to the river bed,
threw gold-tipped tea saucers and plates against the rocks.
They clinked a beautiful song before landing broken in the water.