In the postcard you 
send me,

the blue of the pond is a cold electric 
I want to fashion myself 

into. A blue someone would 
touch, would hold

in their lungs. I could find the distance 
between

touched and held
if I could bring that blue

against your vein. A distance of 15 Lakes,
or 30,000 Waits (if each 

one was held until stifled), 
or five years

to reach my house
from yours.

Daniel Blokh

is a 16-year-old writer who lives in Birmingham, Alabama and attends the Alabama School of Fine Arts. He is the author of a memoir, In Migration (BAM! Publishing, 2016), which is now available at booksamillion.com, and a micro-chapbook, The Wading Room (Origami Poems Project 2016). His poetry chapbook, Grimmening, is forthcoming from Diode Editions in 2018. His work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing awards and the Foyle Young Poets awards, and has appeared in Avis Magazine, Cicada Magazine, DIALOGIST, Forage Poetry, Gigantic Sequins, and Thin Air Magazine.

Author’s website: www.danielblokh.com

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ In My City by Daniel Blokh in the “Bloom” column of The Wild Word magazine online; includes his poem, “Jan. 21,” written after he and other teens participated in the Birmingham Women’s March in 2017, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as 45th president of the United States