by Michelle DeRose
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| The Guardian, April 3, 2026 |
Runaway nuns seek familiar stairs,
years of ascent lodged in muscle memory.
Passages internalized like arteries,
layout so deeply embedded they could sleepwalk
to table, sanctuary. A return to rails
that held their hands through ages,
yielding their gloss to dry grasps
that clasp ever tighter. Rooms where
nightly they set their prayer beads on bedside stands.
Michelle DeRose lives and writes in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Find her most recent publication in Michigan Bards Poetry Anthology, North Coast Voices 2025: Poems of the Great Lakes, Dunes Review, and Autumn Sky Daily.