Kimberly Kralowec

[In the thicker sky of coastal cities]

In the thicker sky of coastal cities, 
sunset always lingers longer than dawn.
Where does the air come from to replace 
what the wind takes away? When I asked 
you this, you always said yes. By which 
you meant breath. Once, your cells began
growing faster than ripening plums—faster
than night sky could blacken. We never 
chose the colors painted on the blush-rose. 
Still, with what reluctance the flesh 
of the unripe plum lets go of its seed.

Kimberly Kralowec is the author of a chapbook, We Retreat into the Stillness of Our Own Bones (Tolsun Books, forthcoming May 2022). A lawyer by profession, she holds a J.D. from the University of California, Davis, School of Law, and an English degree from Pomona College in Claremont, California. Her awards include the Patrick J. Hopkins Memorial Writing Award and the F.S. Jennings Prize in Expository Writing. Originally from a small town in the San Joaquin Valley, she now lives in San Francisco and has been named one of the Top 100 Women Lawyers in California. Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Night Heron Barks, High Shelf, Star 82 Review, Birdland, and West Trestle Review.

Learn more about Kim at her poetry blog, http://www.anapoetics.com, and her law blog, http://www.uclpractitioner.com.