n. 1. the latter part of day and early part of the night. 2. the period from sunset to bedtime. 3. any concluding or declining period, as in / when the sun sinks below Ebrie lagoon / when the boulangerie runs out of bread / when the boy wheels his Nescafé cart with its one squeaky wheel / when drowsy babies unfurl / on mothers’ backs / at busy bus stops / when the first flush of bats / darkens the sky / battering the clouds / to a leathery pulp / fuchsia tongues tucked behind glittering teeth / when monuments bow their heads / & weary prows list / when mosquitoes jewel our ankles with blood / when the aftertaste in the air is citronella & smog / when the musk from your body / rises / warm & unmistakable / a scent swarming everywhere / holding everything aloft / even the vagrant stars
Ottawa-born and Costa Rica-based, Cara’s work has been featured or is forthcoming in Best Canadian Poetry, Event, The Maynard, The Fiddlehead and SWWIM. She won Room’s 2018 Short Forms contest and second place in Frontier Poetry’s 2018 Award for New Poets. She has a diploma in Poetry & Lyric Discourse from The Writer’s Studio at SFU.