In the squeaky belly
of a McDonald’s ball pit,
a soft tuft on my minky (as my mom
calls it) tickles my thumb. I’m twelve & obsessively
measuring my new-electric-fur,
fuzzy as a peach or
Baby Berenstain Bear.
Mom’s fur is
palmetto-tree-lush,
sprouts out her bathing suit
when we dip toes in the apartment pool.
After double shifts
waiting tables at the country club,
she soaks herself pruny,
floats on the water until the streetlights hum.
We walk home in the dark, a cigarette between her lips
and a chlorinated double drip
from both sides of her bathing suit bottoms.
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Nikki Ummel is a queer artist, editor, and educator in New Orleans. Nikki has been published in Gulf Coast, The Georgia Review, and others. She is the 2022 recipient of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize and the 2023 winner of the Juxtaprose Poetry Contest for her manuscript, Bloom. She has published a poetry chapbook, Hush and a hybrid chapbook, Bayou Sonata.
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Award-winning photographer Natalie Christensen’s focus is ordinary settings, seeking the sublime. She deconstructs to color fields, geometry and shadow. Christensen has exhibited in U.S. and international venues; was a UAE Embassy culture tour delegate; recently was invited Artist-in-Residence Chateau d’Orquevaux, France; and Setanta Books, London published 007 – Natalie Christensen. She has work in permanent collections and her photography has been featured in many noted fine art publications.
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