Mantis 21 (Summer 2023)
New Poetry

Anon Baisch


   my Mother died 29 days ago

Broken                the cellular    the             definition

I recognize the face but

Of want of memory of

But I need the picture

Of quickness of erasure Ashes

Of moment of seeing I

And the could notting we

Of invisible touch the skin

Wait wait wait wait wait

Of a moment Of knowledge

Do we know the whenness

Of a body of how

What is this of ending

What is this finity this

Stop stop stop stop stop

The asymptote of body bag

The asymptote of and the

Box and we must carry

And we must the lightness

What will it feel like

To cradle what will feel

Cradle cradle cradle cradle cradle


ANON BAISCH is currently a data analyst working in the semiconductor industry. Anon’s poems have been published most recently in Defunct, New Note Poetry, 2River, The Write Launch, and forthcoming in Waxing & Waning.