When the Heart is Heavy by Tara Shea Burke

Skin the sweet potatoes.
Leave some skin for texture.
Chop thick slices of shallots.
Dice the garlic in uneven chunks.
Toss in olive oil and generous
fingerfuls of salt and pepper.
Rub the roots until they shine.
Smear the rest across your skin.
Roast. Wash the dishes.
Turn off the music.
Let the day slow-cook
despite the need to drown
out the noise, the news, the daily
injustices. Hear the dog ring the bells
on the back door. Let him out
even though he’s just bored
with your domesticity, your shuffling
around that doesn’t involve him —
not today. Dry your hands and stand
by the window. See it all: your small
fenced yard and your four dogs sniffing
at the garage door, a daily routine
anticipating the fun human
coming home to play. See the chickens
in their city coop pecking at insects
and kitchen scraps. They feel you
by the door, begin slow-clucks
and squawks for your attention,
hungry begs for more space
under the cold day to spread wings
and forage for something more than this —
to scratch at the dirt and be covered in it.

Tara Shea Burke is from Virginia and lives with her partner in the East Mountains of New Mexico. She has an MFA from Old Dominion University, served as poetry editor for The Quotable and Barely South Review, and volunteers for and guest edits Sinister Wisdom, a Multicultural Lesbian Literature and Arts Journal. Her chapbook Let the Body Beg was published by ELJ Publications, and poems can be found in The Fourth River, Adrienne (Sibling Rivalry Press), Yellow Chair Review, Calyx, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and forthcoming from Lavender Review and Whale Road Review. www.tarasheaburke.com