Closed
Ulf Kirchdorfer
April 2, 2023
Open. A sign of hope
to get liquor or beer,
a warm place to be
with other lonely hearts.
What does it mean
to open your heart
to the Lord? Is he
going to come
and perform heart
surgery or just do
one of those special-
effects moves
and reside in your
aging body
and give you hope
when you drag
yourself to another
doctor’s visit.
Open. Closed.
Open. Closed.
We are not here for you.
Ulf Kirchdorfer grew up in Texas before entering exile in Georgia, mandated by “demand” for English professors. He spends much of his time photographing birds. He has published books of poems with Lamar Literary UP and frequented the Texas-based journals Amarillo Bay, Borderlands, Concho River Review, descant, the Texas Observer, RE:AL, and others. Outside of Texas, his work has found lodging in Poetry Daily, Harvard Review, and Rolling Stone magazine.