Kelly Lorraine Andrews' poems have appeared or are forthcoming in PANK, Prick of the Spindle, Selfish, Profane, and Love Me, Love My Belly, among others. She is the author of the chapbooks "The Fear Archives" (forthcoming, Two of Cups Press), "I Want To Eat So Many Kinds of Cake With You" (Dancing Girl Press, 2016), and "Mule Skinner" (Dancing Girl Press, 2014). She is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh's MFA program in creative writing. She coedits the online journal Pretty Owl Poetry and curates its Pittsburgh reading series. Additional information about her publications, along with a slideshow of her cats, can be found at kellyandrewspoetry.com.
Suffocation Ritual
A furrow of feral prowl I drive
the long drive to your house again
and wait in reticence as the cellar
door wind-slaps against brittle wood.
Weeks ago we were wild in bundling,
a warmth like a filament tarnishing
a bulb until charred. If I could bury
all that longing I would use my breath
to unthaw the stark sediment
of your backyard, puncture it
with my overwrought tongue & boil
a broth from the weathered bramble.
I would singe a spoon and feed you this
until our muteness came undone.