Helen Hofling
Winter 2025 | Poetry
New Year
When you arrive
will you tell me
what is dear to you &
what finally did it
was it the exercise routine
was it pulling a long string
from your mouth
removing its guilty anchor
or leaning back
on the green couch
were you honest
about your desires
of consequence
and your Potemkin desires
did you find what you needed
behind the revolving doors
where you watched
the women coming
and going
a device to tumble
your own stones
a moisturizer?
instructions for
unbuttoning
the pale
gnaw
Helen Hofling is a Baltimore-based writer, editor, and artist. Her work has appeared in Epiphany, The Hopkins Review, Prelude, the Seneca Review, and elsewhere. She is a member of the PEN Prison and Justice Writing Project, and she teaches writing at Loyola University Maryland. www.helenhofling.com.