Author's Name
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Poem

It is Monday,
the sink is full of dishes.
I am thinking about which letters

will solve this puzzle. I am thinking
about how my dog presses her side against my legs
when she comes to me for comfort,
how in her moment of need

I feel her muscled strength.
She smells like toast,
as dogs do when they’re young.

photo: Anna Yarrow

Monika Cassel’s poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Bennington Review, The Common, Denver Quarterly, Diode, and The Georgia Review. Her translations from German have been featured in Deep Vellum’s Best Literary Translations 2025 and Poetry Daily. She was awarded Poetry Magazine’s 2024 John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Translation and her manuscript Rehearsal for Future Hungers was a finalist with River River Books. She lives in Portland, OR, is an assistant poetry editor for Four Way Review, and holds an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College.

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