Jillian Smith lives in Atlanta, GA, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Poetry at Georgia State University. She has previously published poetry in SOFTBLOW Poetry Journal, Anderbo, Bluestem Magazine, and Barking Sycamores. Originally from outside Philadelphia, Jillian got her BA in English from Penn State University and her MFA in Fiction from Florida State University. She recently got married, welcomed two cats into her family, and moved into her first home.
Swimming before a Storm
We squirm
like gelatin
splayed out
on pool furniture
fingering books’
limp pages.
Words drip
down my thigh
or rise, formless,
into clouds.
A breeze skulks
in corners.
Sky chafes
its gray shelf.
In the water,
my shadow
sinks and floats,
twin versions
of myself.
