Merino by Donna Spruijt-Metz

Merino                                                                                                                                       Donna Spruijt-Metz
—after psalm 147, verses 6-11

I am wearing
your sweater—the only one 
I kept. Light, and easy
to wear in this near desert 
climate—I didn’t love the deep
vermillion, but it was your last favorite.
I love it now. I want to say
it isn’t fair—
how hard I loved you,
that gift I was given—
that helplessness—you
with your swift 
mind, your long 
thighs, folding
into bed at night—
the circle 
of your warmth—and always 
that small shard—the fear 
of loss.




Donna Spruijt-Metz’s books include To Phrase a Prayer for Peace (2025,Wildhouse Press), General Release from the Beginning of the World, And Scuttle My Balloon (with Flower Conroy), and Wu Wei Eats an Egg (Lucas Hirsch in translation). Her poems appear in Poem-a-day, Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. She’s an emeritus psychology professor, MacDowell fellow, rabbinical school drop-out, former classical flutist, and briefly, a rock and roll bassist.