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​                                                         Hilarity is my favorite word
                                                                   ·
                                                         for Aad)

 
                              When I come to my best friend with questions of the breast
                              questions of the left breast now over the right
                              he does not dismiss me.             Does it hurt he says
 
                              my mother hurt   he says
                              her breasts scarred & pitted.
 
                              I am past the mention of breasts now.
                              I do not weep at the steering wheel spinning
                              I do not weep at the absence of a loving God's face
                              when I look to the sill's sleepwalker.
 
                              My daughter sleepwalks my friend says
                              we follow her we dare not wake her.             Do not wake me
                              then, feign I am sleepwalking
                              feign my trance should not be broken. Pummel my breasts
                              like that boy when I was sixteen               after the fireworks
                              pummel my breasts as if they are invincible!!
 
                              Hilarity is my favorite word            I'm telling everyone
                              hilarity is the word carved from acorn shells
                              I roll in my palms.               Do they hurt
                              my best friend says               no they do not
                              hurt at all            I ignore them as the grandfather clock ignores
                              its pendulum        swaying           as the clock ignores
                              the mark of doom's joy to come.


                                                   CAROLYN SRYGLEY-MOORE is the author of three books of poetry, most    
                                                      recently Songs Scared from the Conch // as voices carry, an on-line collaboration. 
                                                      She has been published in numerous reviews, including Bone Orchard Poetry, with 
                                                      work forthcoming elsewhere. Carolyn is a Pushcart and Best of the Web nominee, 
                                                      and an award-winning graduate of Johns Hopkins University's Writing Seminars. She 
                                                      lives in Upstate New York with her husband, daughter, and three dogs.



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