Necessary Parts
She was just a girl
fourteen
bronze and thin
like Degas Dancer
her eyes told a truth
her mouth couldn't utter
her shell hand-made
artificial and imperfect
cracked opened
for me to see
what she once was
a woman with no breasts
who pissed like a man
but she had no penis
she had lost blood
traded for food
I tore out half of my heart
and placed it in her palm
she broke her form frowned
she was dying then
a teenage woman who
having been hunter
warrior and prey
survived scattered into
rugged pieces recognized
only by the same
as necessary parts
A work in progress
who would transform
breaking and reshaping
the mold until it represented
the whole horror
of refined beauty
it was a hot night
burnt flesh was in the air
she stepped into
a smoke-filled salon
on Columbus Avenue
where a white haired man
waited for a wanton woman
he sat at the bar
drinking gin and tonic
she can still smell
the pork sausage in his pocket
the Old Spice on his skin
he led her to a black cellar
where on cold molded
piss filled sheets
she slid out of the body
he held and raped
what screamed
she heard glass shatter
the scent of flowers
wafted by
she stared at herself
helpless and pained
what lay twitching
a rag doll
she took home
and sprayed
with the smell
of cheap perfume
1 large bag of poverty
1 single parent
1 cup of addictions
2 tablespoons indifference
1/2 teaspoon of education
1 child
Place parent
and child in slum apartment
Add bag of poverty, cup of addictions
indifference, ½ teaspoon of education.
Chill for 21 years.
Serve to America.
One hot spring day
in New England
snow piled high while
sun-worshipping
walkers and runners
wore t-shirts, shorts,
and sneakers,
stores sold out
of shovels.
At the shop
African women
work all day
braiding American—
African heads
parting hair
combining strands
connecting extensions
repairing pasts
linking fragmented
lines
of families
—broken off—
from the root
Susan King is an American writer. She has a BFA in writing, literature, and publishing: Emerson College; MFA in poetry: Vermont College; and, a MA in English: University of Massachusetts. Her works include poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. She is presently working on completing a creative non-fiction manuscript sometime in December 2011. May you enjoy reading her poetry as much as she enjoyed writing it.
NOVEL EXCERPT:
ALLIGATOR POND
by G.L. Williams
ISSUE:
S P R I N G
2012
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