SWWIM sustains and celebrates women poets by connecting creatives across generations and by curating a living archive of contemporary poetry, while solidifying Miami as a nexus for the literary arts.

Prayer for Rooms We're Forbidden to Enter

SWWIM Every Day
by Jackie Craven

may this day
that paces the linoleum hall
find you
blinds raised
shadows folded
on a closet shelf

may you embrace the hissing air
forgive
the ventilator
and infusion pump

may your walls
slip from your shoulders
to reveal other rooms

rooms you almost—

and
in your forgetfulness
may you leave
every door
ajar

Jackie Craven has poems published in AGNI, Beloit Poetry Journal, New Ohio Review, Pleiades, Ploughshares, SWWIM Every Day, and other journals and anthologies. She's the author of Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters (Brick Road) and two chapbooks, Cyborg Sister (Headmistress Press) and Our Lives Became Unmanageable (Omnidawn). Find her in Schenectady, NY; Cocoa Beach, FL; and online at JackieCraven.com.

Week 27: Cauliflower

Corpse: of the body, of the core