Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
AT EQUINOX<br />
by Katherine LaRue<br />
(someone washes my hair)<br />
I was handed a child<br />
I could smell<br />
I threw up blackberries in trashcans<br />
(someone combs my hair)<br />
orange blossom<br />
and probably flower pots<br />
it was March in the desert<br />
this is her<br />
this is he<br />
pollen on the legs of bees<br />
I can tell:<br />
have you seen whales pushing their babies to the surface of the ocean to breathe how do<br />
you think they know how to do that?<br />
I do not capitalize the name I collapse<br />
the space<br />
because of<br />
I am handed a child<br />
March was terrible<br />
if I gave birth<br />
(and it didn’t matter for a long time)<br />
(this one is mine)<br />
tinsel and plastic grassfilled<br />
Easter eggs<br />
smells like strawberries<br />
(this one is mine)<br />
a baby armadillo bursting out of a cake<br />
rolling around in frosting<br />
and it was all mine<br />
to an alligator I wouldn’t be disappointed<br />
handled like a child<br />
I am an alligator with a mouth full of little alligators<br />
kind maw of tails and tantrums<br />
feeding them apples<br />
in the right way<br />
if I gave birth<br />
if I gave birth<br />
stars in their center<br />
to the neighbor’s dog ran over when I was five I wouldn’t be disappointed<br />
I cried so hard wanting people for myself<br />
to the dog I have now I wouldn’t be disappointed<br />
because I really love that dog<br />
its purple vomit on the carpet<br />
purple from chewed up jellybeans<br />
from cough syrup<br />
someone is holding a child<br />
worry a little throat<br />
calling the number on the bottle<br />
coughing<br />
I can tell you:<br />
there have been women who have cooked their children<br />
how do you think they know how to do that?<br />
people<br />
scare me what is in there<br />
I am a fridge that makes ice<br />
I am an expensive fridge that makes ice<br />
in the shape of half-moons<br />
I grind up the ice<br />
when you press a button ice fills your glass<br />
and you fill the space<br />
between the ice with water<br />
there is a little star in my center<br />
there’s a little someone on a stage<br />
36 37
Change language