Jenny Della Santa
The Test Confirms You Are Post Menopausal
In the houses of this city
where you have left
other selves
you wear your old clothes
Sometimes you are with the girl
who never stops talking
unable to undress in front
of each other
unable to look in the mirror
Sometimes you play the piano
fingers recalling their positions
on the keys
notes ringing your name
like a bell in a forest
in the brightest week
of a dry season
Sometimes you sleepwalk
from room to room
a bird gathering
tokens for her journey
cleaving a bouquet of rubble .
Sometimes your body is
the house
and you slip
through an open window
You are a language of ribbon and bone
You are a line drawing of a fallow field
You are a tree on bent knees
You are all you ever wanted.
Over the cold throw of oceans
adrift in the mother-light
beneath their blue-capped skirts
you take off your clothes
like January sheds
the roses of winter
Jenny Della Santa’s work can be found in Palette Poetry, Pretty Owl Poetry & The Hunger. She was an Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prize winner and nominee for Best of The Net and Best New Poets. She has an MFA from Mills College and lives in Oakland with her husband and young daughter.
Return to July 2021 Edition
In the houses of this city
where you have left
other selves
you wear your old clothes
Sometimes you are with the girl
who never stops talking
unable to undress in front
of each other
unable to look in the mirror
Sometimes you play the piano
fingers recalling their positions
on the keys
notes ringing your name
like a bell in a forest
in the brightest week
of a dry season
Sometimes you sleepwalk
from room to room
a bird gathering
tokens for her journey
cleaving a bouquet of rubble .
Sometimes your body is
the house
and you slip
through an open window
You are a language of ribbon and bone
You are a line drawing of a fallow field
You are a tree on bent knees
You are all you ever wanted.
Over the cold throw of oceans
adrift in the mother-light
beneath their blue-capped skirts
you take off your clothes
like January sheds
the roses of winter
Jenny Della Santa’s work can be found in Palette Poetry, Pretty Owl Poetry & The Hunger. She was an Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prize winner and nominee for Best of The Net and Best New Poets. She has an MFA from Mills College and lives in Oakland with her husband and young daughter.
Return to July 2021 Edition