Jenna Cardinale

About the Anchor's Appetite

About the anchor’s appetite
for sinking:

   Open and open-
   mouthed. And into.

   At least the ocean is
   reliable. Its flirt
   feels far off.

   And a barrier
   island is an island
   that serves–

Pressed hard against what we want
   out and away.
   And what we want.

But I am in it.
I do not move, no matter
my fear of being swallowed.

Nuisance Behavior

Serious conflicts are rare–
Preying on– Examining more
closely– Identifying methods
of avoidance–

Coyotes in the city.
Also, online dating.

If confronted, get loud.
Be bigger than you appear.
Throwing things until you are all alone.

Jenna Cardinale writes poems. Some of them appear in H_NGM_N, The Fem, and Pith. She lives in Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn, NY, where she is often looking up.