Laura E. Hoffman
 

 
Redacted Sister Heaven

when the epileptic
silhouettes
dance behind
veils of butter-
white softness
in the high rise
windows of 
the Holiday Inn
downtown

I imagine that
the shadow
of my baby sister
moves among them

I look up
from my life
on the dying
highway below

and in my head
she’s still wearing
a pink one-piece
with gold stars
stretched over
her little heart

 if I could
I’d wish her love
from the bottom

of my imperfect parts

 
Sandman

mounds of gold
from a thousand
eyeballs
rolling like
saltwater tides

tumultuous
as oysters
pinching, pulling
suckling pearls

I want to find
the gritty sleep
of his corners
and the tears
of other women
spilled over rows
of bad bones
bleaching

but
in my bed
of wet sand

he has come
for me
 

Laura Hoffman is a United States Marine Corps veteran and a senior at The University of North Florida. Her most recent work appears in The Bangalore Review, Cease Cows, Clear Poetry, The Gyroscope Review, Poetry Circle, and Typishly.