heirloom lands, by Hannah Zerai

Glory Train, by Ruth Starr Rose (USA) 1951

heirloom lands

bound for glory
on winged-heel hand-me-downs
from high above. the train
still tracks this land, chugs on,
but the devil shovels coal
sometimes. and we sit
side by side, barely
aware—that we are, or
we’ve been, or
they were
passengers, bound
to forget, bound
to be taught, bound
to remember. bound
for glory, almighty inheritance;
to wear it, barely
aware of it. the land
fits our feet for it. shapes us
under stairs we can’t see.
under stares we can’t see.

Hannah Zerai

Hannah Zerai is a writer from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She spends most of her time managing the vast and tiny world of chronic illness, bouncing between art projects, and collecting things that really don’t need to be collected. Her writing has appeared in The Mighty, Halfway Down the Stairs, and The Skinny Poetry Journal.

Golden Slippers, by Ruth Starr Rose (USA) 1947