Original

By JACQUELYN POPE 
Girl when you get lost
the forest will find you
tame you   take you over.

Pocket of breadcrumbs
and birdsong. Pocket of rocks. 


The ends of town   the noise
of home are lost
where you go digging down

and out   and under
furrowed in mud and stone.
When you rise and run

remember   the good black silt
of these good green days

tilt of this time   beaten fast
then faster ground given shape
and shine   its living part

where you bloom   like a dare
worked out of the dark.

 

Jacquelyn Pope is the author of Watermark. Hungerpots, her translations of the Dutch poet Hester Knibbe, is forthcoming. She is the recipient of a 2015 NEA Translation Fellowship, a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant, and awards from the Academy of American Poets and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

[Purchase your copy of Issue 02 here.]

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

Original

Related Posts

Headshot of Jill Pearlman

January 2026 Poetry Feature #1: U-topias

JILL PEARLMAN
One of us sleeping, one of us dreaming with open eyes / strands of your hair in the silver light / when I rubbed the hair in the small of your back, / you awoke to a dog’s sharp nails / You told me it wouldn’t have ended well / in the old country. // You smashing public windows, drunken brawls / in the metro

top 10 pieces 2025

The Most-Read Pieces of 2025

Browse a list of the ten most-read new pieces of 2025 to get a taste of what left an impact on readers. 2025 was a momentous year for The Common: our fifteenth anniversary, our 30th issue, even a major motion picture based on a story in the magazine.