Poems By Sarah Ann Winn

Sarah Ann Winn’s writing has appeared widely in many publications, online and in print. Her first full length poetry collection, Alma Almanac, won the 2016 Barrow Street Book Prize and will be published by Barrow Street Press in 2017, and she is the author of four chapbooks: Portage (Sundress Publications, 2015), Haunting the Last House on Holland Island, Fallen into the Bay (Porkbelly Press, 2016), Field Guide to Alma Avenue and Frew Drive (Essay Press, 2016), and Ever After the End Matter (forthcoming, Hermeneutic Chaos Press). Other work has appeared in such journals as Codex, Five Points, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Massachusetts Review, and Tupelo Quarterly. Sarah currently serves as Reviews Editor for Tinderbox Poetry Journal and is the founder of Poet Camp, a roving residency for women writers. She lives in Manassas, Virginia, where she teaches poetry workshops and lives with her husband, two lovely dogs, and one bad cat.
 
Dot & Bo in Space
 
Create A Space-Themed Adventure
Dot & Bo blog, Design District, 7/17/2015

We have space in spades
if you open a hatch a crack
to let some fresh air in
you could be sucked away.

We have space, we cram
it into corners and refuse
to look at it. It knows
what it did, the gravity
of the planet nearby,
the distant pout of stars.

We have space, we keep
it like a pet, a wolf half-tamed.
When it nibbles its paws
you say It’s just anxiety.
You open its jaws
and peer beyond the teeth,
to check for choking.

We have space, scheme
with colors to imitate the Sea
of Serenity, the dresser drawers
are full of darkness
folded and stored.
 
 
Dot & Bo: Dark and Stormy
 
[…]the moody swirls of agate, the frenetic…
Dot & Bo style blog, Design District 1/20/2016

Bring on the storm clouds,
not a set for headaches
and tantrums, the deep sheepskin
rugs ready for stomping
soundlessly to winter music.

Bring on the agate,
the brushed steel,
wheel in the freezing raindrops,
watch enough music videos from the 80s
to know that tears are implied.

Or let it snow, a look inspired by
Mariah Carey in a fur halo.
The brightness won’t retreat,
even in nasty weather.
Here’s a sanctuary dedicated

to the smell of onions and pot roast
in a dutch oven. Listen for the sound
a wedding band makes, clinking
against the vegetable peeler:
a little love song, ringing.
 
 
Dot & Bo Build a Mineret
 
This is your new favorite bohemian
Dot & Bo blog, Design District, 1/6/2016

Let’s carve marble curtains,
permanently parted. Let’s make

sure the story will last for one
thousand years: hammer

driven, solid. Appear as iris
or as tendril. Intricate flower

blooming out of olive wood.
Through the varnished

leaves, a glimpse. How we aim
for something built to last,

how we occupy our hours
with chisels, how our

intentions gnaw at stone.
 
 
Dot & Bo: Design a Backyard Island

Dot wants to include lilypads
and the song of frogs layered

from indoor/outdoor speakers.
Bo insists on a rowboat

run aground. They dangle
a tire swing from a nearby

tree, edge their land with sand
and refuse to order tacky mudpuppies

and snapping turtles speckling
childhood. No muskrats, no

drownings, no falling through,
only shade and lapping waves.

Only freckles and swimsuits.
Marco polo garden sheds,

they float on lakewater memory.
Together they slip in.
 
 
Dot and Bo Play I Spy

I spy something aquamarine.
Is it a solid gold bottle cap painted over?

I spy something which should be put away.
Is it the Converse all stars slumping
on hand painted entryway tiles?

I spy a doe where an antelope once stood.
Give me a better hint, tell me
is it something blue, is it the fraying
coverlet on the Scheherazade bed?

I spy a blank space where a model could pose.
Is it a cloud broken into equal pieces? That’s not fair,
that’s a spot made for burrowing with a romance, seven
pages of passion too dense to be skimmed.

I spy a mechanical butterfly, no wait, a wind up moth.
Is it cecropia, is pinned to cork in a box, is it ticking
past the hydrangea in the garden? Is it even inside?

I spy an artfully arranged collection of antique ring boxes, a set of silences in a row.
Is it under the rug, is it dust, is it something once here but now missing,
no longer listed for sale, is it something sold out.
 
 
Dot & Bo in the Floating Farmhouse
 
…remember that you’re on the cantilevered porch…
Dot & Bo Dream House Series, The Floating Farmhouse 3/9/2016

We pasture our troubles
underwater. They glimmer blind

us, but vanish at eye level. They catch us
with current if we decide to go in.

Our kitchen shades a trout nest.
We see tadpoles at breakfast, and never cringe.

Dot asks Will we beat plowshares into paddles,
will we make the mortgage, will we buy a new tractor, what

will it cost us to winter our cares? Everything
is quilted, made to look candle lit, even

the wood burning stove
only burns wax and resin. Nothing is

what it really is, we have chores
and crops taken in from the river, we have hours

to farm, fields to turn. A doll sized concern
with a wrap around porch, a weathered winesap

orchard on the shore, clothes which never dry on the line.
 
 
Dot & Bo Travel Inspired
 
These 5 Travel-Inspired Furnishings Will Make
You Want to Go On An Adventure Immediately 7/17/2015

We bought a coffee table
inspired by a relief map,

only to find everything we placed
there rolled down mountains,

congregated in rivers and valleys.
We bought a couch inspired by

an airplane cockpit, more comfort
had been given to someone

with more money. Our kitchen
floor was a beach from Bali,

wrapped then shipped to us,
direct. Crabs nipped and scuttled

into the living room, sea gulls
from Ireland could have been knock

offs from Atlantic City. They harassed
us in every room. Someone deboned

our boat like a sea bass, leaned its skeleton
for us against the wall and said Now float

in words. What if we haven’t got any
words? We open and close our mouths,

eyes fixed and staring at each other. We swim
in our newly installed Arctic chill waterbed.

Our doormat no longer says Home is where
the heart is. Its silent slot canyon striations

encode a message, just for us. Do not linger,
the world is welcoming.
 
 
 
 
First appeared in Dirty Chai Magazine:
Dot & Bo Build a Minaret
Dot & Bo In the Floating Farmhouse

First appeared in Radar Poetry:
Dot & Bo in Space
Dot & Bo: Travel Inspired