Back and forth all day she flits /
and through the hole in their house she fits / not just each different thing she brings /but herself too, making sure each thing / is put in its proper place inside / until she's finally satisfied.
Elise Hempel
Elise Hempel grew up in suburban Chicago and has worked as a copywriter, proofreader, editor, and college English instructor. Her poems have appeared in many journals over the years, as well as Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry. She lives in central Illinois.