Julia Knobloch

"They know people died but nobody tells them about the worlds that were lost."

Say it when the priests go eat the sacrifice.
Say it when the stars appear.
Say it until midnight.
Say it before dawn.
Say it in the morning light.
Say it when you rise, when you lie down,
in the desert, in walled cities,
in your house and on the road.

I found them, viscerally familiar aliens / in my grandmother’s poppy seed cake / in the first pomegranate I ate / in all the rivers that have seen me weep...

When people hear my accent, some treat me with the patronizing friendliness they might apply toward people they don’t take seriously. One person even said, “Get out of here.”