Issue > Poetry
Maw Shein Win

Maw Shein Win

Maw Shein Win is a poet, editor, and educator who lives and teaches in the Bay Area. Her poetry chapbooks are Ruins of a glittering palace (SPA/Commonwealth Projects) and Score and Bone(Nomadic Press). Invisible Gifts: Poems was published by Manic D Press in 2018. Win is the first poet laureate of El Cerrito (2016 - 2018), and her poetry collection Storage Unit for the Spirit House will be published by Omnidawn in 2020. mawsheinwin.com

Spirit House


only son trapped in
premonition, whispers

in the ear, a leap from
second floor window

asleep on cement flower bed
rooms emptied of spoons

ankles sprained, warnings in
the head, mother offering

to the nat on the ground floor
honey, rice, roses,

Spirit House


as a child I did not climb trees
instead I gathered leaves that flew to the ground
the trees were tall in the fall
the neighbor boys, cruel,
one left a dead kitten in a box on the doorstep


I made homes among the leaves
safety in green, gold, yellow,
invented a family who lived in a treehouse
green twig, the mother,
broken branch, the father,


two ferns, the missing sisters,

Storage Unit 202


The rental faces another house.
When she arrives, there are wild turkeys in the street.
It begins to rain.


The storage unit in El Cerrito holds pinned moths in cases.
Brass castanets. Tin pants.
A box of cork buttons.

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