Winter 2015: Poetry
Skeletons
by Christa Kaainoa
If I had skeletons in my closet instead of clothes, I would pull them out into my room and we would have tea with milk and honey. There would be a wolf, hung together with wire and clamps; her polished teeth and fangs suspended in an eternal snarl, would protrude from powerful jaw bones, which would lead to spine, and legs dangling on one end beneath symmetrical rows of ribs and on the other end, beneath her pelvis and hips. I would get down on all fours and crouch next to her, howling my best howl, listening for her response, which would sometimes come, but usually only when the moon was full. And there would be human skeletons too. One would sit on the floor with his legs outstretched, one ankle crossed over the other, his spine resting against the soft cotton of the bedspread spilling over the edge of my bed. We would put records on the turntable – CSNY, and Carole King, sometimes Queen, sometimes Pink Floyd, and I would say, “Hey, sing along! I love this song!” But he would never feel sure of his voice, and he would mostly just mouth the words, his teeth, like rows of chiclets, coming together and apart, together and apart with the movement of his jaw. I would tell the other skeleton, lying on her side in front of the laundry hamper, her elbow bent, head resting on her hand, “You are so funny! Why do you always look at me like that when I sing?” And she would just laugh and tell me I’m the funny one. Sometimes we would ride the wolf skeleton around my bedroom, her bones going clack clack clack with every step. But she’d be strong and she could hold me, and the skeletons too. We would take turns, and it would be like riding ponies at the petting zoo, only wilder and a little more scary.
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Through the magic of language, 20 poets challenge us to write and live bravely. |
Five risk-taking voices burn with the fire of transformation. |
Four artists share their diverse sensibilities as confident mark-makers. |
With clear eyes and articulate voices, five young women confront terrifying aspects of human experience. |
Meet the authors and artists – from first-timers to well-established – who grace our sixth issue with their voices and visions. |
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LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR
POETRY A Great Wild Goodness by Annie Lighthart Going South by Christine Gray a welcome week by Hannah Sams Ophelia, at Fifty, in a Blue Blow-up Canoe by Deborah Dombrowski A Passing Music by Barbara LaMorticella Girl Fishing with Grandpa by Helen Kerner Perimeter by Amy Schutzer Two Poets in the Weight Room by Tricia Knoll Skeletons by Christa Kaainoa A Poem for Dany by Suzy Harris Lineage by Amy Schutzer The Bucket by M.K. Moen Bernier River by Christine Dupres Silence by Margie Lee Advice by Donna Prinzmetal Sometimes at Night by Jennifer Pratt-Walter Fissure by Elizabeth Moscoso Whale by Cathy Cain In the Modern World by Annie Lightheart Love poem to an acquaintance by Allegra Heidelinde Dialogue between Magician and Tattooist by Christine Gray Under the sign of the water bearer by Jennifer Kemnitz city spacious heart by Pearl Waldorf PROSE Bless Our Great Nation, Zambia! Zambia! by Gypsy Martin Liminal by Stephanie Golisch The Tomorrow Fire by Kelly Coughlin Ablaze by Heather Durham Left As It Was, It Would Come Apart by Jackie Shannon-Hollis ART Sibling 1 by Michelle Latham Sibling 2 by Michelle Latham Sibling 3 by Michelle Latham Totem by Kelly Neidig Stratum by Kelly Neidig Swift by Kelly Neidig Breaking Free by Erin Leichty Capture Threads by Erin Leichty Hardware by Erin Leichty YOUNG VOICES Visions on the Playground by Meghana Mysore Chasing Thunder by Berkeley Franklin Elegy for Christy by Lily Boyd Social Media by Maya Coseo A Hundred Acre Wood by Audra McNamee CONTRIBUTORS |