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When the World at Large Makes You Feel 
​by Amy Gordon

afraid, as if any moment you might fall through
the thin glaze you’re skating on, you hold 
your breath, as if balloons in your chest 
could prevent the worst, until one day, a crack 
and a startle of fish, and then the shock
of an older-than-memory cold, but what if

instead of drowning, you find yourself
in a room with a fireplace, and as you
settle before the hearth, a scene emerges 
inside the orange embers. 

A girl is kneeling in the grass, creating
a town out of leaves, adding,
moment by moment, everything
society needs. Rooms like this exist 
everywhere beneath the ice. 

Amy Gordon
Amy Gordon spent her childhood years in New England, France, England, and Brazil. Following a career of teaching theater skills to middle school students, she went back to school for an MFA in Poetry at Drew University. Her poems have appeared in Blue Nib, The Massachusetts Review, Pomegranate London and other journals. Her first chapbook, Deep Fahrenheit, was brought out by Prolific Press in 2019. A second chapbook, The Yellow Room, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. She is also the author of numerous books for young readers. Painting the Rainbow (Holiday House) won the 2015 Paterson Prize for Young People. She lives in Western Massachusetts.

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  • Home
    • Poetry
    • Translations
    • Fiction
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  • Masthead
  • Issues
    • Us v. World Revisited
    • Spring 2025
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    • Spring 2024
    • Fall 2023
    • Spring 2023
    • Fall 2022
    • Summer 2022
    • Exilé Sans Frontières
  • AR Tunes
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