The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Sat 3/22/2008)

[RetroLounge]

Report from the Skinhouse

I went looking for the body.

The apple, tree, the river.
Gliding voice, curve of arm,
pearly blue uterus.

Muscled calf, the neptune green
eye, blood with the same
taste as mine.

Why do I write my report this way?
An adopted child needs to find a face.

What does a real mother's body look like?
River, chalkline, bloody cave?

I am replica of nothing.

birthmother, conjurer, boneshaker, witch,
let me smell your skin just once,
I'll give you your bloody daughter.

Jan Beatty

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Beatty’s newest collection of poems, Boneshaker, was published in spring, 2002, by the University of Pittsbugh Press. Her first collection, Mad River, won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press and was published in 1995. Beatty’s chapbook, Ravenous, won the 1995 State Street Chapbook prize, and she was also won two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. For 10 years, she has also produced and hosted Prosody, a public radio show on NPR affiliate WYEP-FM, which features the work of national writers.


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:hi:

RL

[RetroLounge]

1. Hmmm, no comments?

:shrug:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Retro...

I think I know why there's no comments...

This is one tough poem...

I know I'm not sure what to make of it...

I feel uncomfortable reading it...

Very vivid imagery, though!

Maybe too vivid! :scared:

Still, I thank you...

We all appreciate your efforts! :hug: