Kelly White


Every Line Should Be A Poem

your dark machine, your laughing hands

gray rain windows lock her face to his

no birds, but then, who needed flight?

as if a single cracked brick could hide my world

gold leaves have fallen on the wet tile roof

an amber bracelet, a woven lock of hair

drops of rain ignite the telephone line

salt spilled and sifted across the floor

the sign spoke but there was no dog

your chair bent my back to your form

a saddle, a split stone, a blunted nail

one child crying, one laughing, one stilled

there was a whisper, her son, her bruised tight fist

that bleeding shadow on the floor

three galloping footsteps and then the fall


If the train comes late

will you get on it? Even if

it rattles? Even if its whistle’s

broke and the wheels don’t strike

sparks? And if it smells coal clinkers

and left-over tuna fish? Will you take

your seat in the club car? And the menu

serves nothing but the word love?

And the coffee tastes of burnt kitchen

matches? Oh, box car, coal car, caboose,

oh Mother Cabrini on the Virgin

cruise of the Queen Mary. Better make that

Queen Elizabeth. QE II to you, and darling,

don’t let the cranes prove me wrong. Or do.

Do ‘dis me. Kiss me. Bliss me! (Pssst:

Secret: I got carried away,) I’m treed hon,

you must be a blue-tick hound-dog. That dark

bugle in your cruel night. That big old fire

under your bushel. I’d eat you

up. Or down. As the case maybe, J. B.,

sing. You’ll be able to do that—smiling,

with perplexed teeth. (I used to your

teeth.) Mumbling: Onchomycosis. Oncho-

dystrophy. Oncholithiasis. The stethoscope

salutes the womb. Let that little murmur

take a ride.


In Memory of the Body Donors

9. Roses

It is perfectly legal to sell human bones in the United States. Except for select antique specimens, all human bones for sale in the United States have been prepared overseas. Prior to 1985, the main supplier of human material for medical use was India. India ceased exporting bones in 1985 following changes in Indian law. In recent years China has became our primary source for human bones. For more information, please see our Bone FAQ.

Remember

the uncorrupted body

of the 2nd Patriarch?

of Saint Bernardette ?

that gave off

an odor of roses?

(posies, posies,

ring around

the rosie)

gather the saints roses

a stain

upon your back

Your father’s bothered

because the anatomist is German.


My daughter is in the waiting room

with a new haircut and a skirt

we both know why she has an old magazine

it is a slow day only a few patients

see me walk and lift her chin this one,’

with the radiant newborn calls me over

she is younger than my girl

she bubbles sweet praise and I too praise

the beauty of the child of the mother

but girl, my girl (my lips tighten to not speak)

this must not be you