All winter I pined.
I coned, caved.

I held my bridle lip,
my bride. My mouth,

my bride. Rough
jeans. Jeer.

Rubbed
with bristle brush.

Fed feed.

What if, fearing
being led, I lead?

ξ

“All winter" was first published in Best New Poets 2020.

Isabel Neal is a teacher and poet from New England. She holds an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan, where she now teaches, and has been awarded fellowships by the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Rackham International Institute. She is currently at work on her first collection.

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