Hail our rift
Jailer’s gift
Tailor’s weft
Trail or sift
Paler wife
Mailed or missed
Sailor oft
Failed or kissed
Wailer wept
Bail or drift
Tail her deft
Ailer’s grift
Sail her left
Nail her shift
Whale has left
Whaler miffed
Gale you swept
Tempest lift
Save our ship
Days are ripped
Failure left
Gave short shrift
Say bereft
Say be with
Ellie Black is a PhD student in creative writing at the University of Mississippi, where she also received her MFA. Winner of the 2023 Pinch Literary Award in Poetry, she has work published in or forthcoming from Ninth Letter, Mississippi Review, The Offing, Black Warrior Review, Best New Poets, and elsewhere.