ALYSE KNORR 

Why Is the Measure of Love Loss

in the midst of the sceneless day

we enter the burning building

of course this is a dream     yet

when “I looked over the bow for

an answer”—when I closed

my eyes & sent you a picture

you saw a girl dancing ballet

& “behold! the pinnacle was

dismantled; the glory of

the vintage was dust” &

wonder ceased entirely to be

wonder      next was the part

with the wolfthicket—with

the wolf baring her great neck

what I mean to say is: one year

ago I stood in the street

with you     now each day I eat

a pill the size of a doll’s eye—

my sleep quiet as a clean white room

my teeth all chewed up to chalk

Alyse Knorr is a queer poet and associate professor of English at Regis University. She is the author of the poetry collections Mega-City Redux (winner of the Green Mountains Review Poetry Prize), Copper Mother, and Annotated Glass, as well as the non-fiction book Super Mario Bros. 3 and four poetry chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Denver Quarterly, The Cincinnati Review, The Greensboro Review, and ZYZZYVA, among others. She serves as co-editor of Switchback Books.