As I carry the ringshadow / you carry the ring,

Zoe Stoller

Before Summer I said
It was not the ground.

The ice-glass girl
In suit, the hands
In car. Twice again

It was the white
Paper-black pen. I
Was & I was not. A receipt
Of volume, mind having

Not spilled the language.

Water low & crunch
Into lobe. The first apple

To itch the throat; it was
An innocent
Thought. Speaking

Without numbers, I
Am liquid. I
Am having not under-
Stood I. I once

Again in a room. I am

Four-doors & looking
Into sink. My hand not

Hold, or murky
Rock. Wall with stars
& skin. Except

In feather; accept
In bone. Questioned
Where the talk would
Go—you said worry.

You said call

The bricks safety.
I said words more

Akin to what I
Meant, & this was
A result.

Zoe Stoller is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in DIALOGIST, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Rabbit Catastrophe Review, The New Guard, and Word Riot, among others. She is a Poetry Editor for Cleaver Magazine, and in June, she will be joining Teach For America as a Philadelphia Corps Member. For more information, visit www.zoestoller.com.