• Resa Mestel is a poet, weaver, nurse and community-based volunteer whose work has appeared in Mom Egg Review, Poetica, The Westchester Review, The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly, Breaking Bread, The New Verse News, Peekskill Herald and others. She lives in Ossining, New York.

Soft Spot

Being born into a place, misplaced
where local ferns display their fronds,
wild ginger spreads as ground cover.

It is the fontanelle of a newborn’s skull
fusing daily as vision improves.
In her mother’s arms she can see

dawn’s early lightning as comfort creeps
unfurled, spores make their way
toward light, growth quivers through the night.