Split Screen 

This poem is called "split screen." Most days when I do my work-from-home jobs and navigate chronic illness and attempt to write poems and do laundry and make dinner and (try not to) lament the slow nature of mundane domestic tasks, I make a valiant effort to do all these things at once. This usually results in less than spectacular work on all fronts. Occasionally, one task preoccupies me more than the others, like killing the gnats in the houseplants. Occasionally, I find the perfect balance to get things done. Consistently, there is very little space for the maintenance that is grief.

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Katie Clarke (they/them) is a writer and artist and a settler in Kjipuktuk. Their poetry has been featured in Arc Poetry Magazine, Yolk Literary, Thimble Literary, and Mxogyny, and their chapbook Light Leaks is published with Dancing Girl Press. More of their creative work can be found on their website and (occasionally) on Instagram.