The Bottom Shelf Review

Winner of the William and Ivy Saylor Prize 2016

Show me your maker,

the figure who found

you to be less

than you are.

When was it –

When we met,

you were the

debonair duchess

of skipping class

to rule the hallways

with grander visions

than those dusty books

could hope to hold

of your curious

attention.

Show me

the face of the one

that you have grown

up believing

broke you.

Where there are cracks

in the porcelain

I see only gold.