Poetry from Elizabeth Porter

Photo: Nataliya Smirnova

Custody Exchange

Driving home, the fields glow violet
with snow. The rarest natural color
must be this—amethyst pastures draped
in winter’s discarded robe. From the back
my children exchange jokes
in their secret language, passing over
the 30-mile stretch between homes & weeks
& towns. Their laughter hovers like mist
on the pond, pearly & casual.
There is a place in the ocean
where two bodies of water converge
but don’t mix: I paddle this border,
two feet ahead, in silence—and then
with a heart stretching back to shape.
.

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Elizabeth Porter writes and teaches high school in south-central Pennsylvania. Her work has previously appeared in Dunes Review, Moria Literary Magazine, Ballast, Unbroken Journal, and elsewhere. Her work has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best of Microfiction. She is the author of Elemental Undress (Bottlecap Press, 2023).