SWWIM sustains and celebrates women poets by connecting creatives across generations and by curating a living archive of contemporary poetry, while solidifying Miami as a nexus for the literary arts.

A Duplex for the Day After Retirement

SWWIM Every Day
by Sarah Carey

Leaving is trading one skin for another.
In time, they say, you grow into the other.

My new skin springs from its root bed.
At the foot of the bed, my crumpled covers.

At my feet, a dress I’ll never wear again.
I rise and step into the light of day.

I rise reckless, crazy, minus my veneer.
On the wall, Grandmother’s crazy quilt.

Her eidolon hands touch velvet overlay.
Through the interfacing, her hands touch my face.

My work is done; I come undone.
I piece my random scraps before and after.

Stitch self to self to graft a future fabric.
Leaving is trading one skin for another.

Sarah Carey’s debut poetry collection, The Grief Committee Minutes (Saint Julian Press, 2024), was a finalist for the 2025 Eric Hoffer Book Award. Her second book, Bloodstream, is forthcoming from Mercer University Press in 2026. A North Carolina native raised in Florida, a Pushcart-nominated poet and former veterinary communications director, she explores place, familial and environmental loss, shifting selves and ancestral inheritance through the lens of Southern landscapes and scientific observation.

Want. My MTV.