Sheila Sanderson

The new moon has two cures

 
 
for want,
full hands call for one,
empty hands
the other.
She said come empty-handed
before the new moon,
and you best mean it.
And ever should the day come
you don’t want
for something,
you may as well be
in the ground
with your toes turned up—
 
 
 
 

Sheila Sanderson’s work has appeared in journals such as Alaska Quarterly Review, Miramar, North American Review, and Spillway, as well as in anthologies, such as Language Lessons (Third Man Press) and One for the Money (Lynx House Press). She is the author of Keeping Even (Stephen F. Austin University Press). She teaches at Prescott College and edits Alligator Juniper.