fourteenth attempt at going home
the junkyard galaxy knocks
late spring
Irène P. Mathieu is the author of Grand Marronage (Switchback Books, 2019), which was selected as Editor’s Choice for the Gatewood Prize, orogeny (Trembling Pillow Press, 2017), which won the Bob Kaufman Book Prize, and the galaxy of origins (dancing girl press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Callaloo, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. She was the winner of Yemassee Journal’s Poetry Prize (2017). Mathieu is a poetry book reviewer for Muzzle Magazine and an editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine’s humanities section. She is the recipient of fellowships from Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Fulbright Foundation. She works as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia, where she serves as Director of Equity & Inclusion for the Department of Pediatrics and affiliate faculty of the University of Virginia Center for Health Humanities & Ethics.
Photo by Justin G. Reid