in defense of immortality
It is a good thing we are not immortal
since we cannot continue to have our current
characters and remain meaningfully attached
to life forever. —Bernard Williams
but I want more hours—
blue bedsheets muffling
our late-night talks
when we can’t sleep
turned blur of birdsong
& car horns in dreams
the mid-storm sky turned gray
& the rain & the rain
Shaina Clingempeel is a Philadelphia-based poet who has a poetry MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She owns a small book editing business, as well as a literary magazine called Cypress Review. Poems of hers can be found in Coffin Bell, The Rupture, and many other places.