Claire Thornburgh read poems from her collection at Des Moines Library on Sunday, June 9, at 2 p.m.

So, I’m Claire and this is Jeanette–in purple.  She shows me how to be a phoenix–not the gorgeous kind with iridescent crimson feathers, but kind of grubby, with lots of potential.  We know flames and the work of sifting through ashes.  One day she placed a really good cup of coffee on the floor near the bed to coax me out from under (no ashes under there, just dust).  I haven’t crawled back since.  I follow her glints of red ahead on an updraft.