When metaphors slide the scalp
\nback to its abyss of bone. When the simile
\nproves like more human than is.
\nWhen you heard the metal rod striking
\nbone. Yes, it is bone. The palate halved.
\nThe tongue is bough, gallow, thread.
\nDo you look away from the two-legged words
\nwithin the bus? Do you see a man\u2019s fear
\ngripping the wheel, turning the machine
\ninto an elegy going back on its own words?
\nThe long road jerks into devastation
\nhigh as jungle palms & plane trees.
\nWhen the parrots disappear & nothing,
\nnot even air, will beat death into the men
\nwho breathe it. When they force her
\nfriend to watch, making him beg
\nwith a woman\u2019s voice. I am begging
\nyou. When the scenery, it is the world
\ncut out from flesh, moves inside
\nthe body. When the men are inside
\nthe body, they do not see their mothers,
\nsisters, daughters standing
\nin the withered stairwell.
\nLater, those mothers will beg the world
\nto spare their sons from execution.
\nTheir sobs tear the jet hair
\nfrom their own stained scalps.
\nIt was no dream. The men lifted themselves
\nlike torches through her
\nscreams. When they come
\nto believe they are more ether
\nthan bruise. I am begging you.
\nWhen the woman they have eaten
\ncarries the likeness of the universe
\nin her belly they have smeared
\nwith meat. When the wheel turns
\naway from the paved country,
\nthe angels strain like mosquitoes
\non the windshield. The opal shadows
\nof insects buzz in the skull.
\nWhen only God may look
\nat the blur within &
\nknow there is nothing fast enough
\nbeyond those windows,
\nnothing dead enough out there
\nto forgive. (2012)
\n
\nWAVES, WHILE SLEEPING
\n
\nCarry me waking across the world
\nwhere, in Nice, strawberries ripen
\nin a wooden cart. The morning yawns
\nazure beyond the fruit sellers.
\nThe Mediterranean beckons
\nto fishermen & stones.
\nPleasure bursts into froth,
\nwhite & cold enough to drink.
\nI\u2019ll go everywhere. Why not? Kyoto,
\nRome, Paris, Port-Au-Prince.
\nBack in Brooklyn, a woman murmurs
\nin her bed while I feast. What we taste
\nin sleep we carry back to our bodies,
\nlingering in the hunger the world
\ngives us. Each day like an eyelid,
\na mouth still & open, wanting
\noranges, earth, & strong coffee.<\/p>\n
![\"REG.12](\"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/REG.12-1.png\")
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet and visual artist. Her forthcoming collection, Lighting the Shadow, will be published by Four Way Books in 2015. Currently, Griffiths teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn. Please visit: www.rachelelizagriffiths.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When metaphors slide the scalp back to its abyss of bone. When the simile proves like more human than is. When you heard the metal rod striking bone. Yes, it is bone. The palate halved. The tongue is bough, gallow, thread. Do you look away from the two-legged words within the bus? Do you see [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690","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=1690"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2350,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions\/2350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}