My abundant hair, my only wealth, fits so easily
in his fist. I pull the soft stem of his handrolled cigarette
from my lips, which he told me are a pair of petals
Rose DeMaris
ROSE DEMARIS is an emerging poet whose work appears in The Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly Journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, Roanoke Review, Qu, Vassar Review, Cold Mountain Review, Maiden Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a Poetry MFA candidate and Teaching Fellow at Columbia University. Born and raised outside of Los Angeles, she went on to spend many years working, writing, and exploring in Montana, and now lives in New York City. www.rosedemaris.com