https://www.albany.edu/offcourse
http://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
https://www.albany.edu/offcourse
http://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
Poems by Rebecca Lu Kiernan .
Rummy Park, 45.
(He Never Spoke of His Love for Her)
He never spoke of his love for her
To the unanswerable desert wind,
But washed her prints
Off the copper kitchen,
The marble bath,
The black lacquer bed.
Her poems went untranslated.
He never bothered to say
She had died or run away.
He washed her blood
From 70's avocado attic carpet,
Burgundy truck leather,
The coral cove where he shivered to choke down the howling.
Simply, he buried his identifying jewelry
When the moon was bloated full
And let the wolf swallow him whole.
He never spoke of her love for him.
(This story is a ticket to survive a night.)
The unbending of lives in hands
Capable of unspeakable lies,
My tongue trying on your flesh for size.
How many trips to dispose of another body?
Please look away.
Rummy Park, 40.
(Incognito)I will camouflage myself
Inside the complexities of winter light
That plays against the sodium wind.I'll make such a complication of my
Whereabouts,
Spreading rumors to throw you off,
Wearing Annie Hall hats
And Jackie O. sunglasses
And bulky Russian trench coats.I'll wipe my fingerprints
Off
Brandy glasses and coffee cups
And you will never find me
Unless you understand
The smartest place to keep a secret
Is the opponent's hiding place
Beneath his sweaty hands.
Rummy Park, 43
(Spy Games)I like your flesh
Wet beneath mine,
Pastel forest irises
Begging me not to be unkind,
Your hands pawing frantically
At something just out of reach.I like your sentences in fragments,
Your language unintelligible.
I like your breath shallow and fast.
I like the dog-mindedness
Of your unconditional love
Whimpering scenarios that cannot last.I like the way your eyes dance
When you call from the war
As if you are so smugly sure
I'll be aching for your fingers on my spine
Should your country be defeated by mine.
Rebecca Lu Kiernan has published MS. Magazine, Asimov's Science Fiction, North American Review and many other magazines in the U.S. and Australia. Her first collection of poetry, Sex With Trees And Other Things Equally Responsive was published by 2nd River Press. The Man Who Remembered Too Much was published by Canada's Ygdrasil. She received a Rhysling nomination for When a Snake Bites You In The Ass. She is an editor and lives in the Gulf Coast.
Offcourse Issue #24, Fall 2005, Poems
Offcourse Issue #23, Spring 2005, Three Poems
Offcourse Issue #21, Fall 2004, Two Poems
Offcourse Issue #19, Winter 2004, Three Poems
Offcourse Issue #18, Fall 2003, Seven Poems
Offcourse Issue #15, November 2002, Three Poems
Offcourse Issue #13, Spring 2002, Three Poems
Offcourse Issue #11, Fall 2001, Four Poems