Poetry

Penance by Whitney Rio-Ross

Issue 5: Memoirs, Whitney Rio-Ross

Reflecting on cupped

hands and tangled limbs,

the mirror will show

what you missed:

Wrapped under your

reach, my palms

remain open, legs

paired sleeping snakes.

Forgive my mouth

for making no sound.

You never asked

what I had to say.

My name is Whitney Rio-Ross, and I hold a Master’s in Religion and Literature from Yale Divinity School. My work appears or is forthcoming in The Other Journal, The Windhover, and Adanna. I live in Nashville, TN, and work as an adjunct English instructor at Trevecca Nazarene University.

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