Anne Marie Macari
As if the Body

In the alleys below her heart,

a drain, as if inside there’s

a city, blood gathering

in a pool, a cistern.

  

When it overflows, first just

a drip, then a stream

hidden, the way spirits

hide inside trees and rocks,

  

there in that well, teacup

inside flesh, is a crouching thing,

how it claws when it’s flushed

from her, how each time

  

there’s a tug so strong, aching

sacrum and arch drawing

toward her thighs.

  

Then she’s a long root

of blood opening from below

as if the body, as if

the body, as if—no,

of course not—something tips

over inside her.

 
Found In Volume 34, No. 03
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  • Anne Marie Macari
Anne Marie Macari
About the Author

Anne Marie Macari is the author of She Heads Into the Wilderness (Autumn House Press, 2008), Gloryland (Alice James, 2005), and Ivory Cradle, which won the 2000 APR/Honickman first book prize.