An Inventory

all the kinder forms of longing—

what does it amount to now?

not:

I miss you;

shadows that speak;

disappointment as a crown;

the imprint your body
made in the witchgrass;

the taste of your name,
thinning in my mouth…

David Ehmcke received an MFA in poetry from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was awarded the Howard Nemerov Prize in Poetry. His recent work has appeared in & change, New Delta Review, Black Warrior Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. David was selected by Megan Fernandes as the winner of the 2023 Maureen Egen Award from Poets & Writers Magazine and was selected as the runner-up for the Meridian Editors' Prize and the Black Warrior Review Poetry Prize. He lives in St. Louis, where he teaches in Washington University's undergraduate creative writing program and serves as poetry editor for The Spectacle.