Dismantled, by Jennifer Dorner

A New Era, by Kay Danley (USA) 2021. Click image for artist site.

Dismantled

The figure is saying, enough.
Arms crossed, she sees 

not herself in the mirror 
but more of the same

power.  The elk is grounded
inside the arches, safe

in a cathedral
where outside there is a war in the streets

silent as tear gas
and floodlights.

The figure is guarded by horses,
winged like angels,

and her average frame 
casts a shadow the elk 

will not cross
as the city holds everyone’s dream.

Jennifer Dorner

Jennifer Dorner's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Chicago Quarterly Review, Cirque, Clackamas Literary Review, Cloudbank, New Ohio Review, San Pedro River Review, Sugar House Review, The Inflectionist Review, Timberline Review, and other journals. In 2019, Dorner's poems placed 1st in the Willamette Writer’s Kay Snow Award for Poetry as well as 1st in two of Oregon Poetry Association's spring contests. In 2020, she was longlisted for Palette Poetry's Sappho Prize. Dorner completed her MFA at Pacific University in 2020.