Map Literary: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Art
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  • Nonfiction
    • Jill Darling, "Linger Here"
    • Charles Tarlton, "Har Mĕgiddōn (הר מגידו): The Coming American Fiasco"
    • Martha Wiseman, "Loose Ends"
    • Jan Jolly, "Through My Father's Glasses"
    • Kristina Moriconi, "Still Looking"
    • Wm. Anthony Connolly, "IGY"
    • Cal Freeman, "Loosestrife"
    • Jim Daniels
    • W.F. Lantry, "The Strange Beauty of the Unfamiliar"
    • Michael Roloff, "Accretion"
    • Andrew Sunshine, "John Hancock's John Hancock"
    • Diane Payne, "3 micro memoirs"
    • Luc Sante, "Flesh and Bone"
    • Isobel O'Hare, "Failure: A Love Letter"
    • Melissa Wiley, "Barbed Wire Fence"
    • Ashley Wilkinson, "fractional distillation"
  • Poetry
    • Orion Allen
    • Mark DeCarteret 2024
    • Mary Christine Delea
    • Kara Lewis
    • Jim Daniels
    • Martine van Bijlert
    • Adam Day
    • Sunday T. Saheed
    • Alexandria Peary 2023
    • Fiona Lu
    • Harley Chapman
    • Richard Ryal
    • Sherwood Anderson
    • Mark DeCarteret
    • Dennis Hinrichsen Poetry
    • Daniel Biegelson
    • Natan Last
    • Michael Chang
    • D E Steward
    • Benjamin Paloff Poetry
    • David Dodd Lee
    • Isabelle Doyle
    • Kathleen Heil
    • Leonard Kress
    • Lauren Tess
    • Cesca Janece Waterfield
    • Billy Cancel Poetry
    • Scott Minar
    • Mark Decarteret
    • Greg Glazner
    • Bruce McRae
    • Maureen Thorson
  • Fiction
    • On Experimental Fiction
    • Leonnard Menifee, "The Long, Long Ice Picks At the Old Frostee Freeze"
    • Maisy Phelps, "Marina and Marina and Marina and Marina"
    • Mary Lewis, "Red Knees"
    • Anna Mantzaris, "Strange Magic"
    • Ross Kimberlin, "The Queen of Emilys"
    • Mark Cassidy, "How I Met My Wife"
    • Emily Trachtenberg, "Plum"
    • Hector Donovan-Gonzalez
    • Christopher Linforth, "Zia"
    • Jenessa Abrams, "You Never Wish That Upon Anyone"
    • Eros Livieratos, "On Feeling"
    • Halsted M. Bernard, "Your Hands"
    • Justin Meckes, "The Gash"
    • Reb Livingston, from "Bombyonder"
    • Craig Foltz, "Without Stigma"
  • Art
Picture

Isabelle Shepherd


in your hands


Everything burns brighter in your hands--
the matchstick, dried leaf, my cheek in your hands. 

How does the horizon capture the sun? And how 
can it bear to let go again? You hold clouds in your hands. 

Do birds get songs stuck in their heads? 
I murmur the answer into your hands. 

Where do all the saved ashes go, those urns 
holding strangers? Bouquets never dry in your hands. 

What does the moon do to feel indulgent? 
Pull me in like the tide with your hands. 

Why do flowers never cry? And why do we cut them? 
My hair turns to paper cranes in your hands. 

Is that light a star? It has to be--
nothing else stays so still in your hands. 

When we die, the last breath emerges as a honey bee.
I kiss your palm, magnolia blooms in your hands.


waking

Sometimes, too much
light gets in. Eyes wide 

as belladonna, pupils 
dilated full of black 

cherries. You swallow
the question dawning 

in your throat: Where
does time go? 

Unmoored in the red
maw of morning,

the mind--a roof
above the lantern, 

a flower bed, perhaps 
a film projector,  

every sunset at once.
Maybe death is just

your favorite radio
station cutting out 

at the edge of town,
a static greeting 

without kindness.
Nothing is implied.

Just the spacious
breath of division.

​
Copyright © 2016 Map Literary and Isabelle Shepherd

Picture
Isabelle Shepherd is a poet from West Virginia. She was a runner-up in the 2015 Pinch Literary Awards, judged by Ada Limón, and a finalist in the NC State Poetry Competition, judged by Yusef Komunyakaa. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, DIALOGIST, Sundog Lit, and elsewhere. 
published by
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing Program
Department of Language, Literature, Culture, and Writing

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
The William Paterson University of New Jersey
Copyright © 2012-2025 Map Literary
Map Literary

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  • About
    • Masthead
    • Submissions
    • NJ High School Writing Contest
    • Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Award
    • NJ Undergraduate Writing Contest
    • In Print
    • Subscribe
    • Internship Opportunity
    • Links
    • WPU MFA
  • Nonfiction
    • Jill Darling, "Linger Here"
    • Charles Tarlton, "Har Mĕgiddōn (הר מגידו): The Coming American Fiasco"
    • Martha Wiseman, "Loose Ends"
    • Jan Jolly, "Through My Father's Glasses"
    • Kristina Moriconi, "Still Looking"
    • Wm. Anthony Connolly, "IGY"
    • Cal Freeman, "Loosestrife"
    • Jim Daniels
    • W.F. Lantry, "The Strange Beauty of the Unfamiliar"
    • Michael Roloff, "Accretion"
    • Andrew Sunshine, "John Hancock's John Hancock"
    • Diane Payne, "3 micro memoirs"
    • Luc Sante, "Flesh and Bone"
    • Isobel O'Hare, "Failure: A Love Letter"
    • Melissa Wiley, "Barbed Wire Fence"
    • Ashley Wilkinson, "fractional distillation"
  • Poetry
    • Orion Allen
    • Mark DeCarteret 2024
    • Mary Christine Delea
    • Kara Lewis
    • Jim Daniels
    • Martine van Bijlert
    • Adam Day
    • Sunday T. Saheed
    • Alexandria Peary 2023
    • Fiona Lu
    • Harley Chapman
    • Richard Ryal
    • Sherwood Anderson
    • Mark DeCarteret
    • Dennis Hinrichsen Poetry
    • Daniel Biegelson
    • Natan Last
    • Michael Chang
    • D E Steward
    • Benjamin Paloff Poetry
    • David Dodd Lee
    • Isabelle Doyle
    • Kathleen Heil
    • Leonard Kress
    • Lauren Tess
    • Cesca Janece Waterfield
    • Billy Cancel Poetry
    • Scott Minar
    • Mark Decarteret
    • Greg Glazner
    • Bruce McRae
    • Maureen Thorson
  • Fiction
    • On Experimental Fiction
    • Leonnard Menifee, "The Long, Long Ice Picks At the Old Frostee Freeze"
    • Maisy Phelps, "Marina and Marina and Marina and Marina"
    • Mary Lewis, "Red Knees"
    • Anna Mantzaris, "Strange Magic"
    • Ross Kimberlin, "The Queen of Emilys"
    • Mark Cassidy, "How I Met My Wife"
    • Emily Trachtenberg, "Plum"
    • Hector Donovan-Gonzalez
    • Christopher Linforth, "Zia"
    • Jenessa Abrams, "You Never Wish That Upon Anyone"
    • Eros Livieratos, "On Feeling"
    • Halsted M. Bernard, "Your Hands"
    • Justin Meckes, "The Gash"
    • Reb Livingston, from "Bombyonder"
    • Craig Foltz, "Without Stigma"
  • Art