Monsters: A Prelude
Once I took a shower with a girl
who had dirty fingernails. I did not love her,
and the dirt did not go away. She stood beneath
that falling water for years, laughing
because I would not eat
anything but Raisins and water. I could not swallow
communion wine or chocolate; I could not
wear short sleeves or sleep without shaking.
After four years of this laughter I made a fire:
splintering matches, a scent of gasoline to take away
a lacy white pillow splattered with rust-red blood,
magazine eyes, boxes of empty red Raisin boxes.
In that smoke I saw
the horrible gap between her teeth and I saw
how the senseless pattern of her freckles and I
hated her in the all the small ways that matter most.
Here I am, searching
for a new means to be cleansed,
white ash filling my mouth, my tongue
a charmed cobra, writhing, licking, swilling.
I earned a MA in Poetry from Southern Illinois University, and am currently an MFA student at Naropa University, and have had my poetry published in various journals, both print and online, including PoemsMemoiresStories magazine, Monkey Puzzle Press, and Mixed Fruit Magazine, and have self-published a novel titled Serrated Soul.
Once I took a shower with a girl
who had dirty fingernails. I did not love her,
and the dirt did not go away. She stood beneath
that falling water for years, laughing
because I would not eat
anything but Raisins and water. I could not swallow
communion wine or chocolate; I could not
wear short sleeves or sleep without shaking.
After four years of this laughter I made a fire:
splintering matches, a scent of gasoline to take away
a lacy white pillow splattered with rust-red blood,
magazine eyes, boxes of empty red Raisin boxes.
In that smoke I saw
the horrible gap between her teeth and I saw
how the senseless pattern of her freckles and I
hated her in the all the small ways that matter most.
Here I am, searching
for a new means to be cleansed,
white ash filling my mouth, my tongue
a charmed cobra, writhing, licking, swilling.
I earned a MA in Poetry from Southern Illinois University, and am currently an MFA student at Naropa University, and have had my poetry published in various journals, both print and online, including PoemsMemoiresStories magazine, Monkey Puzzle Press, and Mixed Fruit Magazine, and have self-published a novel titled Serrated Soul.
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