by Cristina Nehring (September 2025)
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My heart is in a jar by the door.
I had to take it out.
It knocked me about.
Fish in a net, thwacking against the gray,
Beating its flesh on asphalt and air
Twisting
Up and down and left and right
It kept me up at night,
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You see, dying loudly and with no grace.
So now it sits in glass on my porch.
I smile,
Meanwhile.
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Hollowchested, one’s step is light
—A feather to each wind that blows—
One’s breath is shallow and quick;
I am almost weightless.
Take me now
How
Like a breeze, how
Like a drop of dew.
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Table of Contents
Cristina Nehring‘s most recent book is The Child Who Never Spoke: 23 1/2 Lessons in Fragility. She is also the author of A Vindication of Love which made the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as two books in French. She writes for Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She lives in Paris with her daughter. See more at www.cristinanehring.net.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast
One Response
Good write ups Appreciate it!