Soren Stockman won First Place in the 2013 Narrative 30 Below Contest. The author of the debut poetry collection Elephant (Four Way Books, 2022), he lives in New York City.

Photograph by Beowulf Sheehan.

Three Poems

by Soren Stockman


Blood Flowers

Love was a fetus that grew in my stomach.

Each morning I bought a newspaper

on my way to the blood bank.

I threw donations over my shoulder like salt;

I wanted my love to be everywhere, was sure

the little losses would strengthen what was left.

Then love began to bite its way through me,

calling my name in the dark, eating my body.

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