in the meantime
this naked winter
only silences the hunger
with its blanket weight
upon root bulb stone
sere-blade bones
imagine waking
to a world of teeth
the only softness
escaped down
of a bird’s carcass
lining my den
it could be
that I will eat my fill
of careless spring
children unready for
claws and talons
or my flesh some other
hunger satisfy
Joan Among the Monarchs
for my mother
Among the butterflies she exchanges
the sanctuary of Tuesday’s flesh
for ashes. Remember,
for dust you are
to dust you shall return
The monarchs cluster
for warmth. Wide-wings flicker
open-close, open-close in the wind.
Pine, cypress, eucalypt stings her nostrils--
burn. From Spanish moss-spangled curtains
a monarch glides spiral down golden
riding wind currents like
a fallen leaf, a flake of ash
a saint at the stake
Dorisa D. Costello is Associate Professor of English, creative writing and digital humanities at Jessup University. She is a native Californian, and her work is inspired by her home state and her Filipina heritage. Her work delights in finding the joy in the mundane. Dorisa’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Ana, Plan B: A Journal of Reproductive Justice, Feed the Holy, and Postcard Press, among others. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2026 Pushcart Prize.
this naked winter
only silences the hunger
with its blanket weight
upon root bulb stone
sere-blade bones
imagine waking
to a world of teeth
the only softness
escaped down
of a bird’s carcass
lining my den
it could be
that I will eat my fill
of careless spring
children unready for
claws and talons
or my flesh some other
hunger satisfy
Joan Among the Monarchs
for my mother
Among the butterflies she exchanges
the sanctuary of Tuesday’s flesh
for ashes. Remember,
for dust you are
to dust you shall return
The monarchs cluster
for warmth. Wide-wings flicker
open-close, open-close in the wind.
Pine, cypress, eucalypt stings her nostrils--
burn. From Spanish moss-spangled curtains
a monarch glides spiral down golden
riding wind currents like
a fallen leaf, a flake of ash
a saint at the stake
Dorisa D. Costello is Associate Professor of English, creative writing and digital humanities at Jessup University. She is a native Californian, and her work is inspired by her home state and her Filipina heritage. Her work delights in finding the joy in the mundane. Dorisa’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Ana, Plan B: A Journal of Reproductive Justice, Feed the Holy, and Postcard Press, among others. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2026 Pushcart Prize.
