24 June, 2021
To be eldest is to be the sentence
before the trial.
Even the exodus left me to wreck
and conquer.
All for a heritage
of lack.
I’ve ruined, drunk, and promised.
Botched my anthems.
I was not born here,
I could never.
I’ve had my own zip code
for years now.
I am tired.
Mine is a country
of excisions.
A citizen unother.
Hannah Cohen resides in Virginia with her two cats. She’s a graduate of the Queens University of Charlotte MFA program. She is the author of the poetry chapbook BAD ANATOMY (Glass Poetry Press, 2018). Hannah is one of the co-editors of the online literary journal Cotton Xenomorph. Her poetry and prose publications include The Offing, The Rumpus, Cherry Tree, Entropy, Drunk Monkeys, Glass: A Journal of Poetry and others. She was a Best of the Net 2018 finalist and a Pushcart Prize nominee.