Don't call it hope or you'll scare it away by Candace Kronen

One Poem Only · Jan 21, 2026 · 1m

Don't call it hope or you'll scare it away Candace Kronen Call it window or thread or undone button, call it plump lipsand the slip of a sound, open palm with a single split seedwhispers of paw prints in a blanket of snow, baby hairsand broccoli sprouts, call it half hug of a parenthesis,handprint in the cave, defiant little fiddleheadpushing through the dirt, call it a clearingof the throat, first stroke of a bow, call itAsha call it Violet call it Chekhov’ssmoking gun, call it Holmesianpipe with a fresh tobacco tin,pink streak of aurorasquinting through theclouds, call it leavingspace for a…