Kelly Cressio-Moeller
Meditations on Disappearing
i
don’t waste
the sun’s time
start growing a beard
for winter summer’s
skinned-plum knees ripen
just below the eyelet hem
between the laundry & the bourbon
study corsetry & lacewings
speak of floating ribs pinioned wings
discover where birds go to die
a series of open-mouthed pours
separating daylight :: & :: prey
gone is gone is gone
ii
once thieves tiptoed by candlelight
left impressions in wax blue
sweat from copper poisoning
blackened cork a bead of oil
tried to fill the furrows & whorls with
another’s life
fingerprints lay bare but won’t tell
where the bodies are buried
iii
I met a woman who was mauled
by a black bear arms lost
hands replaced by hooks
at parties she says her name relives
the story as if by script forty
years on the bear is still alive
New work from Kelly Cressio-Moeller is forthcoming in Poet Lore and ZYZZYVA. She’s been previously published at Crab Orchard Review, Gargoyle, Hermeneutic Chaos Journal, Radar Poetry, Rattle. Southern Humanities Review, THRUSH, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and ZYZZYVA among others. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net. She is an Associate Editor at Glass Lyre Press. Visit her website at www.kellycressiomoeller.com
Return to May 2017 Edition
don’t waste
the sun’s time
start growing a beard
for winter summer’s
skinned-plum knees ripen
just below the eyelet hem
between the laundry & the bourbon
study corsetry & lacewings
speak of floating ribs pinioned wings
discover where birds go to die
a series of open-mouthed pours
separating daylight :: & :: prey
gone is gone is gone
ii
once thieves tiptoed by candlelight
left impressions in wax blue
sweat from copper poisoning
blackened cork a bead of oil
tried to fill the furrows & whorls with
another’s life
fingerprints lay bare but won’t tell
where the bodies are buried
iii
I met a woman who was mauled
by a black bear arms lost
hands replaced by hooks
at parties she says her name relives
the story as if by script forty
years on the bear is still alive
New work from Kelly Cressio-Moeller is forthcoming in Poet Lore and ZYZZYVA. She’s been previously published at Crab Orchard Review, Gargoyle, Hermeneutic Chaos Journal, Radar Poetry, Rattle. Southern Humanities Review, THRUSH, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and ZYZZYVA among others. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net. She is an Associate Editor at Glass Lyre Press. Visit her website at www.kellycressiomoeller.com
Return to May 2017 Edition