Raylyn Clacher's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in such journals as South Dakota Review, burntdistrict, and Pamplemousse. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Omaha's MFA in Writing Program and currently lives in Wichita, Kansas.
My Heart Is Overfed
Before we bottom, let’s pretend
I’m Laura Ingalls Wilder again,
toss my heart between us,
a pig’s bladder that Pa
filled and stitched. Let’s dive
beneath roots and snails, under
worms that hang apostrophitic.
Let’s go down, driven like sink-weights,
nonchalant, stomachs balloon-full,
upside-down, closing in –
let’s live in one room again.
It’ll be stuffed to burst
like my heart, so tightly stitched,
but stretched to hold you, me,
this earth spread like a spoiled rose,
too rich for seconds.