this harvest moon’s a swollen pinguecula
yellow-orange bulbous and tucked tight
against its shadow side like mine’s tucked
against my iris. the doctor says UV light
or dust and common in farmers or simply
susceptible people like me. I guess that’s
what you saw when you said there is a sadness
in your eyes. I said no that’s only tiredness but
knowing what I know now I’d say you must
have seen my eye web as the sadness I know
how to hide. I had to throw my contacts out
and in the morning walked home semi-blind.
I know the way but still felt scared. pure
pleasure blinks above the intersection as I drive.
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Kelsi Vanada is the author of Rare Earth. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa. She writes poems and translates from Spanish and collaboratively from Swedish. Since July 2018, she has worked as the Program Manager of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA).
“Good for You” first appeared in Babel Fish (TLR Vol.61 Issue 02).