TAF#3 - 3 Poems by Holly Day

3 Poems by Holly Day


	Confessions to a Child Just Born
I went through my old poetry
last night, thinking of you
left behind in the hospital, tiny arms
pinned down with IV needles, tiny feet
scabbed and swollen from heelsticks and pulse monitors
trying not to think of you, first a monster swelling in my stomach
something I tried to kill with alcohol
and cigarettes
and failed herbal exorcisms plucked from
New Age magazines

to a soft twisting kitten
keeping me awake with dreams
of who and what you might be, praying always
I hadn't hurt you too bad. Now
I'm having to deal with an early separation
after a day-and-a-half of forced labor
too many drugs

sitting in my bedroom
among these piles of poetry
destroying every piece I ever wrote that says
I didn't love you


					






	Dreams of the End
I had nothing to do with my ex-husband 
ending up at the bottom of the lake (we used to make out at)
plastic bag secure around his head enough
Valium in his system to tranquilize
a bull rhino

I had nothing to do with the bold streaks of red
gouged flesh on his face (damned near lost a nail there)
know nothing about the blond hairs in his fist
smeared lipstick on his mud-soaked collar (tricked me into bed one more
time)
fading surprise in his eyes, mouth still a round "o"

but I can't help but feeling a little bit safer
now that he's dead

					






	Pen Pal
I have walked through your burning dreams
and I forgive you, seen
children on fire, trapped beneath
fallen timbers and I know
the smell of burnt flesh and I
forgive you. I have
walked through silent houses seen
unsuspecting sleepers through your
scarlet blooming chrysanthemums and I
forgive you your gasoline-scented fingers
and trains of braided fuse. Tell me how it feels
to be completely an element, to be a force
of nature. Tell me how it feels
to decide a man's death, how you pick the right houses
to loose your fury on. Your letters
bring me God. I will always be here for you,
outside—write again soon.
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