{"id":13723,"date":"2024-10-31T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=13723"},"modified":"2024-11-01T20:36:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T20:36:21","slug":"bisques-address-to-my-phantom-limb-judith-skillman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=13723","title":{"rendered":"Bisques & Address to My Phantom Limb – Judith Skillman"},"content":{"rendered":"

BISQUES<\/strong>
\n 
\nSo many heads thrown on the potter\u2019s wheel to be turned and born too early, unable to open half-
\nclosed eyes. Impossible for an infant to hold its head up. We press the bundle to our breast, feed
\nthe suckle instinct, place the infant with great care against our shoulders, holding the neck in
\nplace. Still more are born, as if they were pots meant to be bought by philanthropists. As if they
\ncould replace broken ornaments in razed mosques. We mothers go on holding the head attached
\nto its fleshless body, palms placed flat against this little wick of neck that could break apart and
\ncrumble. We use words like b\u00e9b\u00e9<\/em> to indicate that no, others cannot hold our morsel of flesh. How
\ncould anyone know how to feed and change and clothe it? Pulling cotton over the fontanel brings
\na bout of screams, as if the blob were being thrown again into the business of birth. We soothe
\nthese cries with lullabies. We watch our baby sleep on its back without a pillow, see its startle
\nreflex. We try not to think of when the head will be covered in a black hood and dragged by its
\nbody into a courtyard to be shot.
\n <\/p>\n

\n

 
\nADDRESS TO MY PHANTOM LIMB<\/strong>
\n 
\nClose if you will, fist I never knew.
\nEpitomize grief to a widow or the sadness
\nof any week day, and also, Sunday rites
\nreserved for others\u2014the fasting, the confession.
\n 
\nRitual depends upon the hand to take in or push away.
\nPunch the face you lie next to in sensorial science,
\nif only in representation. Symbolize something.
\nIsn\u2019t that what the mind
\n 
\ndoes best? Become more than this missing
\nall I didn\u2019t do when I had you hanging from my arm.
\nPress the center of each note sung by gut strings
\nagainst an ebony fingerboard.
\n 
\nHold the natural hair brush, stroke color and texture,
\ncompose works as spurious as hogweed
\nfound each August at the back of the half acre.
\nBecome horticulture\u2019s dreaded cartwheel flower.
\n 
\nSurely you are capable of imitation?
\nTighten and release, find the light, lean into noon.
\nOpen fully (even short a pinky)\u2014
\nrelease ten thousand toxic seeds.
\n 
\nLet papery skin stretched tight from phalanx to phalanx
\ndry to a crisp, before flipping the bird
\nto each pursuit I followed
\nwith the passion of one addicted to perfection.
\n 
\n 
\nJudith Skillman\u2019s poems have appeared in Commonweal, Threepenny Review, Narrative Northeast, Zyzzyva,<\/em> and other literary journals. She has received awards from Academy of American Poets and Artist Trust. Oscar the Misanthropist<\/em> won the 2021 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her recent collection is Subterranean Address, New & Selected Poems,<\/em> Deerbrook Editions 2023. Visit www.judithskillman.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BISQUES   So many heads thrown on the potter\u2019s wheel to be turned and born too early, unable to open half- closed eyes. Impossible for an infant to hold its head up. We press the bundle to our breast, feed the suckle instinct, place the infant with great care against our shoulders, holding the neck [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[461,149],"class_list":["post-13723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-disembodied-doll-heads-by-corey-leopold","tag-wikicommons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13723"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13795,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13723\/revisions\/13795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}