Sometimes I want a spell of words that conjures without naming or describing. Sometimes I write a poem to take apart a form or an idea, to see how it works. Shapeshifter, out today in The Inflectionist Review, grew out of those two curiosities.

The Inflectionist Review is the journal of a particular school of poetry, concerned with “expression that resonates beyond the author’s world, beyond the page.” I had no home in mind for Shapeshifter until I learned about Inflectionism.*

I drafted** Shapeshifter in response to a particular moment, but I found as soon as it was on the page that it no longer had to do with my moment or my response. To acquire meaning, it needs your moment, and your response.

*Bonus: Inflectionism, and the Review, happens to be local to me here in Portland, Oregon.

**Shapeshifter arrived while I was in residence last fall at Rockvale Writers Colony. If you’re a writer who could use some working solitude, or you know one, check out Rockvale. It’s beautiful, friendly, oh so quiet, and astonishingly affordable.