Amanda Quaid
FARRUCA
Just once, she thought
the baby’s face looked
like her mother’s—
only in the blue light,
only at a glance,
a ghost rippling
up the cheeks,
the crinkled nose,
something
in the way she
scowled at a songbird
that surprised her:
resurrection, genes
like bulls charging
forth from past
to present tense.
Amanda Quaid’s work was awarded the 2023 Bridport Prize. Her debut collection, No Obvious Distress, a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize, is out now with John Murray Press. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter, and she co-edits the ekphrastic poetry journal Metphrastics. amandaquaid.com