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Poetry

my ruins

Jerry Lieblich

I like my ruins

mossy —
but I can’t blame a girl who wants

pretty things

to stay. Still,
that’s the wrong

oncoming train.

She wants
life

smooth as skin-care cream.

Her hair’s done out
to here, her Thursday beauty’s

distancelessness.

"Painting of a Young Beauty" Muhammad Sadiq, c. 1750
Jerry Lieblich (they/them) plays in the borderlands of theater, poetry, and music. Their work experiments with language as a way to explore unexpected textures of consciousness and attention. Plays include D Deb Debbie Deborah (Critic's Pick: NY Times), Ghost Stories (Critic's Pick: TimeOut NY), and Everything for Dawn (Experiments in Opera). Their poetry has appeared in Foglifter, SOLAR, Pomona Valley Review, Cold Mountain Review, and Works and Days. Jerry has held residencies at MadCowell, MassMoCA, Blue Mountain Center, Millay Arts, and UCROSS, and is a Helix Fellow with Yiddishkayt. MFA: Brooklyn College. www.thirdear.nyc, IG: @apophatic_attic.