Vacillating between
: a sublimate; an occupant
who collects identity through distance.

First, I learned how
to read, then
how to write.

Remember the ramifications
of neglecting    the ex post facto
—in assuming    judgment

Homonyms—lone and loan
there, they’re, their—registering
precedent times
for my ever child while

Those miniature tea sets I displayed
at the top of my father’s stairs

like unwritten agreements

,   trying to catch explanations for themselves
should anyone ask.

An hour of talk
on the subject of who
and how you exist.

Tales of familiarity are borrowable, even
ownable and impactful equally
as they are reprehensible.

I like podiums
as much as the next person.
But,   for someone you adore,

it’s a pleasure to be sad.

Today is the pronunciation
of my name.

*

Annie Goold is an Illinois native and undergraduate at University of Illinois-Chicago where her poetic convictions first grew teeth. She has since found poetic growth, community, and sublimity under the instruction of Lina ramona Vitkauskas, Francesco Levato, and Eileen Myles along with numerous dazzling classmates through the Chicago School of Poetics. With crossed fingers and booming efforts, she intends to enter a graduate program for poetry in fall of 2014. In the meantime, she soaks in the expanding vocabulary of her dog, excellent companionship, and the art of city biking.