Molly Sutton Kiefer is the author of the lyric essay Nestuary (Ricochet Editions, 2014) as well as three poetry chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, Harpur Palate, The Fiddlehead Review, and The Rumpus, among others. She is publisher of Tinderbox Editions and editor-in-chief at Tinderbox Poetry Journal. She lives in Minnesota with her family.
Tilt
This is how we're ringing in the new year: by trying.
I hold my hips aloft, tilted atlas, and to amuse myself
as he falls into that dream-world devoid
of small urgencies, I recite metaphors:
if he could shimmy a cork into it all,
he could decant me, aerate and vibrate—
those legs!—perhaps something would catch, glom on, or
perhaps I am a slide whistle,
musical perch, slick in and out.
Forgive me these hopes,
my hips are tired from holding the air.