2 Poems
Dear You-in-the-Dark:
I want to tell you
stories of my childhood,
make it seem as if someone else
carried the lantern. There was
the summer of the garden party--
when my father
filled the lawn with air and light,
gathered us together like pins on cork,
thrust a lit torch
into my wet hands, told me
to scurry across the grass
like a primrose, shimmy
to the center, be the pinion of light.
I was constellation’s center--
he was making stars on the earth
--stars!-- I pulled back the curtain.
I’ve looked so many times.
That night sky like a blanket
pulled across the front of my gown.
—MWS
My Comet, my Star–
When you pieced together my pelvis,
did you know what you would create?
Occasionally an ache in my bones there
where they would spread apart to release
a child reminds me of you, my (m) Other.
Gazing at the stars, I think of what shines
in my mouth; molars! I don’t know how bodies
are knit together, but I imagine you stitching in
each one. What color is your hair? Your hands
are so familiar to me, but by the time I awoke,
you’d fled. This is my childhood. Orphan.
Already Grown.
-–Yours to Name
Molly Sutton Kiefer is the author of the hybrid essay Nestuary (Ricochet Editions, 2014) and two poetry chapbooks. She edits at Tinderbox Poetry Journal. Valerie Wetlaufer is the author of Mysterious Acts by My People (2014) and Call Me by My Other Name (2016, both from Sibling Rivalry Press). She has three chapbooks and edits the journal Adrienne: a poetry journal of queer women. Together, they are working on a manuscript of epistolary poems told in the voices of Mary Shelley and the unrealized female monster. More can be found at www.mollysuttonkiefer.com and www.valeriewetlaufer.com
Amy (Bush) Behrens is a self-taught photographer and artist. She is happily married and always busy keeping up with her two talented teenage boys. Recently, she has returned to school to pursue a degree in arts, in the hopes of following her dreams of teaching and opening an art gallery of her own. Amy’s creative expression, be it through writing or photography, uses varied perceptions and techniques to create a lyrical representation of art and significance. The world is full of raw beauty, possibilities and adventures. She hopes to continue on her journey of discovery and to share her sense of wonder through art and the written word. To view more of Amy’s work, please visit her website or Facebook page.