after Vénus Khoury-Ghata

Mirror-eyed indelicate cats rend the sky asunder
a coldhearted demon espouses painkillers
as if it were the most natural
floating sensation behind her brow
as if she had nowhere else to go

Rely upon this truth 

the gravid angels in your eyes
muddle their dolorous leave taking

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Sandy Beach’s poetry is forthcoming in New Note Poetry, and has appeared in: Minnesota Voices, Red Bird Press Broadside Project, What Light! MN Artists, Perigee Publication for the Arts, Whistling Shade, Water-Stone Review, the anthologies White Space Poetry and To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present, and other publications. She has an MFA in Writing from Hamline University. She lives in Maple Grove, Minnesota.