Repentance

I always believed
in grace, that it
was stone-

faced or a kind
of resistance, centered
in the burnished field

of war. Instead
I discovered it
to be wild,

permissive, like ivy
let go —
roistering over

the window, not
blocking the light,
but encircling

with its cove
of hammered green.
Its tendrils pushing

into — what are we
calling it
today — this plenitude?

A crown, a crossfire,
a way through.

JORY MICKELSON

Jory Mickelson’s first book, Wilderness/Kingdom, is the inaugural winner of the Evergreen Award Tour from Floating Bridge Press and winner of the 2020 High Plains Book Award in Poetry. Their publications include Court Green, Painted Bride Quarterly, Jubilat, Sixth Finch, and The Rumpus. They live in the Pacific Northwest.