Sami Helgeson

Today I Feel Like the Mohorovičić Discontinuity

we are    floating
a twenty-mile gap between us
and the rest of the ball of earth

I can bear it sometimes, today
know how it must feel to name
a void after yourself

an immense ache
prehistoric balancing act 
a great expanse of empty

even the depths of the eastern pacific
cannot reach
we cannot drill to the place and shout
'here, look, this is where nothing exists'
we just trust that it is there
and go on knowing it

Sami Helgeson is a poet with a BA in Environmental Science. She grew up in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin and now lives in the high desert of Denver, Colorado. Currently, they are fascinated by glaciers, tectonic forces, and the mess of youth. Sami's poetry has been recently published in the Peauxdunque Review, River & South Review, and Everybody Press Review. Her work has received support from the Lighthouse and Kenyon Review Writers Workshops and was chosen as an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Patty Friedmann Writing Contest.