Robert Carr
The power of a woman’s secret
is sometimes found in light
through a small glass of orange
juice. Breakfast on the table
long after she’s dead. Sitting
at the Formica nook, papers
strewn from 23andMe, I wipe
strayed fruit pulp from my beard.
On the pie chart of family history –
Native American, a thin raspberry slice.
Robert Carr is the author of Amaranth, a chapbook published in 2016 by Indolent Books, and a 2017 Pushcart-nominated poet. His poetry has appeared in Arts & Understanding magazine, Bellevue Literary Review, Kettle Blue Review, Radius Literary magazine, Pretty Owl Poetry, and other publications. He lives with his husband Stephen in Malden, Massachusetts, and serves as an associate poetry editor for Indolent Books, based in Brooklyn, New York. He is also currently deputy director for the Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Poetry, book reviews, and upcoming events can be found at robertcarr.org.