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The Odes to Nina's Skin
by Deidre Elizabeth

I

There was her arm, my first rose
holding her while she withdrew
into fever and trembling, my prayers

three buckets of water to clean
her kitchen floor while she slept
how she said she'd bone me
and with what we never kissed

how i swallowed it all
without choking
forever changing my ability
to walk with God



II

scream your love for dick
when she takes you from behind
remember the hand was only a test

you won't remember this in the morning
so scream it again to silence the wood
forget about walking, maybe next week

she's planned reentry before you ask
an artist of a craft you've never known
skillfully ensures trembling at her touch

another caterwaul dissolves the i never
she'll ask about seizures when you wake
naked and confused, grateful for cuddling



III

there's blood within
silent lips, wrangling tongue
meadows between them and all
the suns rising; trees without breeze
known only to hair and buckle

bees pressed from flower to hive
a boy breaks branch with branch
all that falls – to eruptions;
potions and arrows against
snail and jellyfish sha men

a black feather quill records,
re-records shadow with light
re-records shadow with light
re-records shadow with light
re-records shadow with light



Deidre Elizabeth has been anthologized in Unlikely Stories of the Third Kind (Unlikely Books), Life According to Goldfish, Volume II—Insight (Goldfish Press), The Velvet Avalanche (Satjah Projects), Washing the Color of Water Golden—A Katrina Relief Anthology (Sun Rising Press), Women Of The Web (Sun Rising Press), This So Called Life (Little Poem Press), and Megaera Volume 1 (Megaera.org). On-line publishing credits include:3 Myna Birds, Poetry Sz—Demysifing Mental Illness, Lily, Red River Review, Poetry Super Highway, Poems Neiderngasse, From East to West, Erosha, Font3Poems, Verse Libre Quarterly, and Megaera. Deidre currently resides in Washington, DC.


Comments (closed)

Alex Nodopaka
2011-09-03 11:13:58

Cool poem!
Cool words!
Fuckin' cool subject!
Actually I think it's a masterpiece!