Claudia Kessel

Claudia Kessel works as a grant writer in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her poetry has been published in Richmond Magazine as a finalist in the 2021 Shann Palmer Poetry Contest, awarded by James River Writers, in the 2024 Poetry Society of Virginia anthology, and in literary journals Ekstasis, Arkana, Neologism Poetry Journal, Shot Glass Journal, Literary Mama, Uppagus, and Lullwater Review.

“Aujargues in Mid-Summer,” “Summer Evening Walk After Rain,” and “Eros & Philia: A Botany of Love”

three-legged cat crouches in the alley
one-eyed horse at pasture
white sun breathes on white stone

green figs cling
to the youth of their branches
resist their gradual purpling

soles of shoes