the present

the present

Carreen Raynor

it’s a funny thing about the present
that once i’ve unwrapped it—stripped
back pith, as from a bright urgent 
citrus—it is no longer itself.
i am left holding peelings, sharp oil;
the fruition has slipped 
away, each segment so sisterly 
with the next, and i not fast enough to snatch 
and savor a current of currents.

---

Carreen Raynor
Poet & Mother

Carreen is a mother and poet writing from the PNW. Her work has been featured by the CiRCE Institute, The Fallow House, and The Nehemiah Collective. You can read more of her poetry and prose on Instagram @erstwhilde.

Photography by Monika Grabkowska