Written by Candace Kronen
After Kim Addonizio
If you ever cried at the headlines while nursing your baby ever
relinquished your name and wanted it back bled
in the bathroom on an unpaid break scanned
the exits of a kindergarten classroom screamed
in the shower just to hear your own voice squeezed
yourself small swallowed your rage gave them
a smile on your saddest day hid your vote ducked
his fists packed your bags blocked your daughter
from wandering eyes crossed the street to walk
alone whispered me too to the quiet dark waited
in the ER with a tattered dress dreamt your body
a shield for your children hungered breathless
for a better world cradled hope through all this
burning / listen it’s time now we need you
.
Candace Kronen is a poet living in Ontario, Canada. Her work has been published in previous and upcoming issues of Free the Verse, Last Leaves Magazine, and The Rebis. She is the co-editor of the upcoming anthology If You Ever, a collection of poems inspired by the work of Kim Addonizio. Additional writing and music can be found on Substack at “Stories I’ll Tell My Daughter” and on Instagram @candacekronenpoetry.