On a hill in Ohio
I buried my father
next to my mother,
a woman he still
speaks ill of even
in the grave, soil
hardened as snow
drifts like a tender
child foraging bee
balm for afternoon
tea, biscuits sweet
to the tongue they
laugh for today is
not tomorrow, lean
bodies stinking of
weight and whisper
as I continue to dig.
Laine Derr holds an MFA from Northern Arizona University and has published interviews with Carl Phillips, Ross Gay, Ted Kooser, and Robert Pinsky. Work has appeared or is forthcoming from The Amistad, J Journal, Full Bleed + The Phillips Collection, ZYZZYVA, Portland Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere.