Daniel Sarah Karasik (they/them) is the author of six books, most recently the poetry collection Plenitude (Book*hug Press). Their work has been recognized with the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award, the CBC Short Story Prize, and the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Award.

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either/or

writing (making) is hard, but not writing (not making) is sad. it follows that life is always either hard but not sad, sad but not hard, or both hard and sad. perhaps most commonly, life is sad then hard then sad in a flutter-quick alternation that feels like, but is not, simultaneity. there can be no period of time during which life is neither hard nor sad, because one is always either writing (making) or not writing (not making). rude

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faintly

self as Russian doll,

ancient iterations dwindling

to motes, concentric

nuclei, evading

the unassisted eye, though

sometimes, even after

a long, long while,

when the light’s just right:

a trace. smudge of a whale

in a still sea. still

alive

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“either/or” and “faintly” from Plenitude © 2022 by Daniel Sarah Karasik. Used with permission of Book*hug Press.