by Meg Taylor
2nd Place Winner – Flash 405, June 2025: “Illumination”
Poetry
I kept joy folded between tax returns,
light too loud for the girl who learned to flinch.
Still, something in me gnaws like hunger,
a moth chewing silk from the inside out.
Maybe not wings yet, but the seams are splitting.
Judge’s Comments:
The author’s use of this metaphor is perfect and that last line is gorgeous. I love that they have woven, in this darkness, change and the possibility of escape.
Meg Taylor is a poet from the Midwest whose work seeks clarity at the intersection of performance and truth. After years in the corporate world, she turned to poetry as a means of excavation, unearthing what was long buried beneath spreadsheets and expectation. Her work has been published in Wingless Dreamer, The Write Launch, and the WILDsound Writing Festival.
Photo by Max Kleinen