HOW TO BUILD A SANCTUARY

Take that joke where the whale song gets longer 
every time your husband tells it,

the message from your mom, who just learned 
how to text, the audio book you listen to 

while you reorganize the spice cabinet, 
the cloud that looks like yes when you 

close your eyes and visualize a perfect day, 
the lyrics you remember stem to stern, 

your friend’s phrase about waking
at the crack of too early—all of this, shred 

and spin around you, throwing in a bit 
of purple prose, till you’re sitting atop 

a bale of words. Wiggle to make a hollow 
in the middle and hunker down.


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Sarah Carleton writes poetry, edits fiction, plays the banjo, and knits obsessively in Tampa, Florida. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Nimrod, Valparaiso, Rattle, ONE ART, and As It Ought to Be. Sarah’s poems have received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her first collection, Notes from the Girl Cave, was published in 2020 by Kelsay Books, and her second book, Sprung Loose, will be out in the fall.