Patrice Boyer Claeys

FRAGILE

—inspired by the works of artist Yelda Akacik 

How small 
the body’s soft shell, 
sheer sugar strands
thinned 
by anxious

watching.

Blown glass lace,
lancet of 
bird bones
wisps and whisperings—

Did someone say my name?

Patrice Boyer Claeys grew up among the plain-spoken and hard-working Pennsylvania Dutch. Her two collections published by Kelsay Books, Lovely Daughter of the Shattering (2019) and The Machinery of Grace (2020), examine raising a child with mental illness and moving through the cycle of loss and regeneration when a parent dies. Recent or forthcoming work in Zone 3, Glassworks Magazine, Aeolian Harp Anthology 5, Literary Mama, Pirene’s Fountain, and Twisted Vine. Patrice was nominated for a Pushcart Prize (2019) and Best of the Net (2014, 2019). Find her at www.patriceboyerclaeys.com.