The Vampire Wife

Poetry Contest Finalist

“Toil” by Sam Spring

I’m walking home
in my church shoes, shivering
off the earth’s slush, like Dante.

Nothing has changed.
The tile is a mosaic
staple of plates, table—

I have taken so much and left
nothing for my little babies
whose mouths are always open.

Yes, gluttony is where I am
after everything. I’m still  
answering for my stomach.

I want to understand
the difference between bone
and stone by tasting it—

I have no history, fear, want,
domestic decoration. I’ve seen
how under our street, the bones

are arranged into symbols
so simple they are cliché.
A heart. What do I know.

About the Author

Sara Moore Wagner is the author of three prize winning full length books of poetry, Lady Wing Shot, Blue Lynx Prize (2024), Swan Wife (Cider Press Review Editors Prize, 2022), and Hillbilly Madonna (Driftwood Press, 2022). She is a 2022 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award recipient and of a 2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation award. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in many journals and anthologies. In 2023, she became the Managing Poetry Editor of Driftwood Press.

about the artist

Sam Spring is a 29-year-old nomadic writer working to save up for a van. He dropped out of SMC to start a glassware company and is the lead singer of the band ‘Tennis Club’. His work has appeared in The Wisconsin Review and The Denver Quarterly, among others. You can find him at www.samspring.me.