At the Top of the Nowhere Staircase
with a phrase from Marilynne Robinson
by Emmy Newman
In the practice of withholding rest I have become expert. The thickness of days provide resistance to my touch and curdle my mind into these dreamlands. I have been trying to tip my own expectations in my sleep but I am sure of nothing but the pain of floating in the Dead Sea, the white-hot water drilling in with so much salt I become completely unable to remember the slish and moil of standing on dry ground. I have developed a taste for repenting I can鈥檛 shake. I keep touching my finger to the electric coil first by accident, then trying to pay up enough to bring the real world back.
Emmy Newman鈥檚 work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, CALYX: A Journal, New Ohio Review, Yemassee, and elsewhere. She has been nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, several Pushcart Prizes, and currently serves as the Marketing & Events Manager for Split/Lip Press. Find her on Instagram @she_wins_an_emmy.