Caitlin Palo

To One Who is Away While the Cherry Blossoms Bloom

I am sending
you a picture
of a woman
taking a picture
of a man holding
a baby up to the
pale blossom.

How uncomfortable
it is to demand
the conditions
of living: a roof
overhead, food
on the table,
a caress.

Better to be
introduced to awe
at a remove.
Petals touch
the cheek.
Head barely
held upright.

Caitlin Palo practices poetry, gardening, and martial arts in Seattle, where she earned her PhD in English from the University of Washington. She is a member of a multi-generational writing group and participates in the Conscious Writers Collective. Her work has been published in The Ekphrastic Review, The Inflectionist Review, Hominum Journal, and Kitchen Table Quarterly. Website: caitlinpalo.com. Bluesky: cpalo.bsky.social.