In Wearing Out
Annie Robertson
→ BFA FAV 2028
Disturbance, 2023, watercolor, 8 x 12”
Ashy feather and elk leather left
on the antlered mantle.
How foreign is my home?
The day churned rocks
near my ears, unclogged
ripples and loons.
My fears lunged,
whisked like raven wings
hollowing the atmosphere.
The day snarled soft at me:
Peer into my channels.
I dare you to loom over
what you are underneath
with amusement,
letting the breath curl.
Notice fraying
leaves are the beginning
of bronzes.
Now, I wish to be
rattled, fire-like
to my exhaustion.
Keeling over to kneeling,
mimicking.
To deny such devastation is to betray
the enamored state
of barefoot friction on driftwood,
dancing slow and hushed
as my walking craves to be.
Always announcing the self,
better left to a backlit audience.
Frail lust for looks changes
nothing, but for the whimsy.
on the antlered mantle.
How foreign is my home?
The day churned rocks
near my ears, unclogged
ripples and loons.
My fears lunged,
whisked like raven wings
hollowing the atmosphere.
The day snarled soft at me:
Peer into my channels.
I dare you to loom over
what you are underneath
with amusement,
letting the breath curl.
Notice fraying
leaves are the beginning
of bronzes.
Now, I wish to be
rattled, fire-like
to my exhaustion.
Keeling over to kneeling,
mimicking.
To deny such devastation is to betray
the enamored state
of barefoot friction on driftwood,
dancing slow and hushed
as my walking craves to be.
Always announcing the self,
better left to a backlit audience.
Frail lust for looks changes
nothing, but for the whimsy.
Samantha Toeman is always jaywalking and is great friends with Doja Cat. In the summer, she’ll be home in New York, working on her video games, putting ice on her salads, and saving acorns for winter.