In: Anthology

Tree Walk with Frog and Toad – Makshya Tolbert

We put our shirts 

in our mouths 

muffling ribbit 

ribbit 

Some days I want 

a vocabulary of the body 

more than I want 

a body


Makshya Tolbert (she/they) is a poet and potter who just found their way back to Virginia. Makshya serves on the Charlottesville Tree Commission, is a 2022-23 Lead to Life Curatorial Fellow, and is New City Arts’ 2023 Spring Artist-in-Residence. In their free time, they are elsewhere – where Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. calls “that physical or metaphorical place that affords the space to breathe.” Their poems are for putting shade on the ground.

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