In Habit

They’ve erected a huge yellow crane
where the Winn-Dixie used to be
where nothing once was
everything
the Big Hunting Grounds
frogs and swamps
fraud and scoundrels
developed

When I was twelve I developed
a habit of going into the woods
down to the Looking Glass River
Wabenasebee
I’d sit on the tree roots that
hung like a mantle over the brown water
and wait for proof that something was amiss, that
I didn’t belong, but
that little river
would only mirror me back to myself
exactly as I was:
clay-born, wild

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Brooke Bovee grew up in Michigan with her parents and sister and a big family of friends. She pursued higher education in Colorado, California, Michigan, and Florida. She now lives in Miami, where she teaches composition and literature at Miami Dade College, enjoys a childfree adulthood with her partner Matthew, and does not miss winter.