This is a short poem from Christy Cobb, a woman I met this spring in a poetry workshop. I really loved it when she read it in class, and she was kind enough to let me include it in this year’s series. I especially like how, in this poem, she uses spare, impactful language. There’s both a seriousness and an undertone of wry humor in the way this poem is constructed that just knocks me out. It actually reminds me of one of my favorite-ever poems, “Moses” by Lucille Clifton, in the way it uses economical language and packs a wallop at the end.

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Roses & Hemlock

Oh, the spiteful snide shit
I say to you
And the silver-tounged saccharine shit
You say to me
Could grow a garden
Both beautiful and deadly

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Christy Cobb is a Louisiana native living in Texas. She is an educator who sometimes writes poetry.