Kristen Orser

Some Sent White Clover

nobody sent a rib

           though she'd asked for a rib from a man
           to see if it would turn:
                          to a fish
                          to wood sorrel

                          to something she could fit in her palm   
                          and perfume with orange leaves.

and when she cut our her tongue,
to see if it would bring about a goose,
it became many tongues with slangs

            before it fell silent

in a small town, in upstate New York,
where families cut their hairs on porches and name their children after weeds.

A Lady in Yellow

An unfortunate hiccup raises more questions
for the lady in yellow

who is bound to her own handwriting

and, by whitesuntide, glued her faith in a book.
Then lost the book in a honeycomb.

--

No one questioned
the importance of her work:

to forget everything she knew
about how easy it is to slip down the well.

--

She stays in a garden of raised beds,
in the fug of superstition

and fog.

Why say more

when we are so captivated by a scene
or an offering of her sleeve?