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dancing girl press, 2015
$7.00
Gina Keicher lives in Ithaca, NY, where she is a bookseller and feline enthusiast. She is the author of Wilderness Champion (Gold Wake Press). She is an associate editor for Black Lawrence Press. Visit her online at ginakeicher.com.
i.
If cat’s cradle fastens the memory. If the heat between bodies yields danger. If this rhythm gets unfortunate. I want us to be together forever. I want you and me to be a thing. The joining and eventual apart. Fusion turned fission. I thread the bobbin and sew square pockets onto my dresses. Who wants a calico scrap? Who needs to see my hands? What happens by candlelight stays in the wick until the memory of what happened goes out. This looked better on paper. This looked better before he entered the room. I was a visitor before he called me good, before he showed me calamity. I have been a guest ever since. This elaborate tattoo is the only beginning. This tattoo is a mercy. I mind smelling the soap more than I mind seeing the needle.
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