Elena Tomorowitz

The study of final things

we don’t know when

will come,

or come again

like sleep

so don’t let the leg hang

over the bed

because the cat claws

what’s under there

I don’t know what –

a blank of dark and dust,

trapped in the heaviness of too much space,

why we wrap the babies tight

to keep those demons out

in parkas and buffalo furs

here, the mountains,

there is no end.

The tallest peak

is never found,

bodies christen the trails

are no longer the enemies

to their deaths

like garbage

Sherpas tread lightly

but are just trying to get somewhere.

Elena Tomorowitz earned an MFA from Cleveland State University's NEOMFA, and PhD from The University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers, both with a focus on poetry. She has work appearing in Guernica, The New Guard, Hayden's Ferry Review, Fugue, The Collagist, and others. She lives in Boise.

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