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Working: Vol. 4, No. 4 - Issue 16 Winter 2025

Target​

Issue 16
When he came along, my baby brother turned me into a
           a big sister, wanting to keep him safe.
 
In first grade, while day dreaming, his little burr head
           was slammed in a heavy door by a fellow student.
 
He got bird poop in his buzzcut
           playing Cowboys and Indians,
 
suffered a concussion from a hard jar on the ice.
           At a football game, confetti would lodge in his eye.
 
Later, as a young adult, his neck ached,
           his brain flamed with fever.

Katherine Edgren has two books of poetry: Keeping Out the Noise, (Kelsay Books) and The Grain Beneath the Gloss, (Finishing Line Press,) plus two chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Coe Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Light, Hanging Loose Press, Orchards Poetry Journal, The Brussels Review, Third Wednesday, among others. She headed up a department at University Health Service, and served as a Project Manager through the University of Michigan, and as an Ann Arbor City Councilmember. She is a retired social worker and a grandmother of four.

READ THE FULL PIECE IN ISSUE 16
Copyright © 2025 Empyrean Literary Magazine, L.L.C.
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