Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper
Titian’s Salome
stepping out of the sun
pupils expanding as if
dropped in water she
sees all along it had
edges could be stepped
out of a garment or
archway that light that
warmth O once beloved
she no longer notices
your hair spilling over
her bare wrist and arm

Monica Youn lives in Manhattan, where she practices law. A former Stegner Fellow, she has recently published poems in American Letters & Commentary, Denver Quarterly, AGNI, Fence, Poetry Review, and other journals. (updated 2001)