If you search for “poems about broken arms”you’ll find the words of amateurs,mainly,But who is a pro at this?Are the missing plums from the iceboxA metaphor for the ligamentPulling my bone until it snapped?Snapped,Forgive me.Forgive me? They were soSoSo I’m going to ask you a lot of intrusive questionsAnd I’m so sorryI just don’t wantContinue reading “fractures (with apologies to william carlos williams)”
☿
A pair of fading bruises the size of thumbprintspaint my inner thighwhere you once marked me as yours,though you were never mine. kfw 2024
Arnika
I claw at the ragged edges of sleep,curled up in a ball on the cast-off loveseatat the end of my bed,while you sleep soundly, legs akimbo,on the mattress. What conversation is there to be had?What rest is there to gain? I loved until my lungs were bruised.I loved until my blood ran clear. I’ve nothingContinue reading “Arnika”
“If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy.”
Such pains evade the eternally ephemeral—the ones only landing lightly,A brush against a cheek so gentle you’d almost think you’d dreamed it.So soft.So fleeting. We landed too hard this time,The both of us.Left an imprint on your faceScraped your noseSliced your chin, just there. Just so. And me, as much the worse for wearBruised downContinue reading ““If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy.””
Quiet Point
On Thursday, between work at one of my on-campus jobs and my one class of the day, I received a message from my doctor following up on a routine mammogram. I would need to make another appointment with the imaging center, because they needed “additional views in one area of the right breast,” but “notContinue reading “Quiet Point”
out-living
CW: reference to sexual assault 1. He was trying to prove that I wasn’t a lesbian. Or so he claimed, when he didwhat he insisted that he had to do,while his intellectually disabled brother watched cartoons just outside the closed bedroom door. I was 18. He was 21. When he was done,I drank wine coolersContinue reading “out-living”
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”
“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head,,,” – Psalm 22:6-7 (KJV) They assemble—day after day—singing, praying, swaying,living spectacles,seeking miracles,signs, wonders,the Holy Spirit pouring downlikefire. In lieu ofContinue reading ““Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?””
swear no oaths
her schoolwasn’t made for ascetics—you try keeping a vow of silencewhen participation is a quarter of the grade—still, she told herself, “if I can just keep quiet,I won’t talk myself out the door.” kfw 2023
C. × sinensis
The most surprising orangeI’ve ever eatenwas from a street vendor in Londonin 1997. Had I ever had citrus grown in the Mediterranean? My grandfather would send us home from our visits to Florida with mounding bags of citrus from the trees in his yard. Oranges, Tangerines, Grapefruit, I would never eat. My Yiayia and PappouContinue reading “C. × sinensis”
On all the little altars
Where the saints are grāmadevatās,and Jesus, a bodhisattva,I bathe youin my tearseach night.Each dayI scrapemy calloused fingersas I string,string,stringjasmine,marigold,oleander,to adorn your memory. kfw 2022
Undusted Corners 