Two Poems

by Erin Jamieson

Cities We Never Leave

we bought taffy

from the Baker's

candy shop

tossing pennies

in a broken

fountain

one day you

always said

we'll leave

this place

for NYC

one decade

later you lie

under a memorial

two blocks from

your childhood

home

and a hundred

miles away this

place still

seeps into

my dreams

At The City’s Edge

my mother warned

me once not to

walk down broken

sidewalks with

boarded windows

but the haunted

howling of dogs

always stirred

something

inside of me

as if I

could not leave them

as if I could save

them when I could

not save

myself

BIO: Erin Jamieson’s (She/Her) writing has been published in over 100 literary magazines and nominated twice for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net. She is the author of four poetry chapbooks, including Fairytales (Bottle Cap Press) and a historical novel, Sky of Ashes, Land of Dreams (Type Eighteen Books), and two forthcoming poetry collections.