James Owens

Ancient Photograph

They are preparing to flee the city.

It is the fifth year of the war, and she is three.

A stiff pose, held. A tiny white dress.

Mended lace foams at her throat.

Her father scowls through his beard

And grips her against his chest

Like a valise full of her mother’s bones.

James Owens’s newest book is Family Portrait with Scythe (Bottom Dog Press, 2020). His poems and translations appear widely in literary journals, including recent or upcoming publications in Channel, Arc, Dalhousie Review, Queen’s Quarterly, and Atlanta Review. He earned an MFA at the University of Alabama and lives in a small town in northern Ontario, Canada.

James Owens

Ancient Photograph

They are preparing to flee the city.

It is the fifth year of the war, and she is three.

A stiff pose, held. A tiny white dress.

Mended lace foams at her throat.

Her father scowls through his beard

And grips her against his chest

Like a valise full of her mother’s bones.

James Owens’s newest book is Family Portrait with Scythe (Bottom Dog Press, 2020). His poems and translations appear widely in literary journals, including recent or upcoming publications in Channel, Arc, Dalhousie Review, Queen’s Quarterly, and Atlanta Review. He earned an MFA at the University of Alabama and lives in a small town in northern Ontario, Canada.