BY NIKKI UMMEL
That first season of Bed Days, hours galloped wild maned
on the top floor apartment, my brother & I,
mama’s plush paisley armchairs flipped & so
we cowboyed, spurred them over the fence & down the street.
Outside, winter brushed its back against the doors & windows.
Inside, mama rolled over in bed to face away from us.
Nikki Ummel is a queer artist, editor, and educator in New Orleans. She is the 2022 recipient of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize. She has a poetry chapbook, Hush (Belle Point Press, 2022) and a hybrid chapbook, Bayou Sonata (NOLA DNA, 2023). You can find her on the web at http://www.nikkiummel.com.
Image Credit: “The Magic of Reading” by Josephine Florens
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