Friday, June 6, 2014

Poem of the Week: Patricia Davis

Patricia Davis head shot


I Will Tell Her about Icarus



about his sister how she
       wanted
to be light

built night in her ribs
       cage strangled
the moon how a fine

down feathered her
       crept from sternum
to navel

how her foot
       bones ached
from the ground

when a woman
       is left with no
wings

when she forgets
       to counsel
her shadow

forgets to wind it
     out like lace
when the sky

is too blank too
     wide she might
make blades

of her shoulders
     raise ridges of bone
wait to fledge

Jesus humble
       poor despised
would be a woman

today obese in white pants
    butt dimples
pocking the fabric

Jesus crucified
       a woman
young pockets

and mind full of riches
     silent
angling a mirror

to see how her
     butt might be
taken

how hunger
     could make it
lovely bearable

vanish
     I will tell
my daughter so

she knows
     her body the body
of every woman

is sun
   seedbed
doorway

the body
     of every woman
is God
 
  
-Patricia Davis   
  
Used by permission.
  
  
Used by permission.
From The Water that Broke You (Finishing Line Press 2014)
  
Patricia Davis' poems have appeared in Poet Lore, Salt Hill, Spoon River Poetry Review, the Atlanta Review, Quiddity, Adrienne Rich: A Tribute Anthology, and Smartish Pace, which named her a finalist for the Beullah Rose Poetry Prize. Her translations of Cuban poetry have been published in Spoon River Poetry Review, Puerto del Sol, and the New Laurel Review

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If you are interested in reading past poems of the week, feel free to visit the blog archive. 

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