︎

From Nondeath Diary

Laura Moriarty


    3-25-20

    On the phone
    On the Beach, 12 Monkeys,
    ten narratives, 28 Days,
    trumps of disinformation,
    revenge is living well
    eating, preparing to
    do what it takes,
    each in our place,
    memorize the news,
    hate the president,
    disinfect the mail




    3-26-20

    Drinking tea in person
    earlier this month
    observing now by way of
    our virtual tea an argument
    of towhee, starling and
    chestnut backed chickadee
    along with a possible
    tanager sighting by
    Columbine in her daily
    Mission Peak climb
    Birds seem nervous
    or it’s me, poking myself
    in the eye, cutting my finger,
    and burning my thumb
    on the same day
    completely unready
    we prepare emergency bags
    but don’t emerge




    4-1-20

    Life in the tower
    of insights, debates,
    plans, and panics
    implacable as
    the days with
    their implications
    sad in the sun
    foolish in the rain
    helpful as it was
    to acknowledge this place,
    refuge, or situation
    sacred (as we thought)
    trying to keep from being
    bereft or broken
    breaking into song
    we desired ourselves
    as much as ever given
    how old we were,
    young we felt, and
    how alive




    4-9-20

    The part to whole
    rhyme between
    beliefs and devices
    doesn’t help us
    know what to be
    or say plague-wise
    in this mere
    softly muttering
    air budded day
    of schemes, plots,
    supplies, numbers,
    uncertain outcomes,
    imagined life




    4-28-20

    Book of viruses,
    book of the weather,
    book of being late,
    of getting old, of the
    flight of towhees
    in the trees or others
    mocking, while neighbors
    make birdlike sounds
    with gardening machines,
    imitating what was once
    real but is now lost
    in thought’s epiphany’s
    book of pandemics,
    book of the fall of Rome,
    or whatever else can go down,
    or of crows, ravens, jays and
    other Corvids. “Covid”
    reminds us of them
    as they, restlessly
    (in unchanged life)
    call out the night



Laura Moriarty, a poet based in California, is the author of numerous collections, including Personal Volcano (2019), Verne & Lemurian Objects (2017), The Fugitive Notebook (2014), Who That Divines (2014), A Tonalist (2010), A Semblance: Selected and New Poems, 1975–2007, and Rondeaux (1990).

Read next: Poetry by John Sinclair



Founded in 2020, Three Fold is an independent quarterly based in Detroit that presents exploratory points of view on arts, culture, and society in addition to original works in various media, including visual art, literature, film and the performing arts. We solicit and commission contributions from artists, writers, and activists around the world. Three Fold is a publication of Trinosophes Projects, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Three Fold recognizes, supports, and advocates for the sovereignty of Michigan's twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. We operate on occupied territories called Waawiiyaataanong, named by the Anishinaabeg and including the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bodewatomi (Potawatomi) peoples. We hold to commit to Indigenous communities in Waawiiyaataanong, their elders, both past and present, and future generations.