Catherine Garbinsky
I felt death cradled on my tongue —
a flightless promise,
an overture to grief.
Oh, I am undone:
one touch and a layer of skin slips away
like the skin of a roasted beet.
Bare against the world,
each nerve trembles.
There are no secrets now.
Vertebrae fall out of alignment,
the air crackles between bones,
radiant light shines through.
I rest upon the long hand of the clock,
listen to the murmur of rust warning against
the passage of time.
Still, when we see each other again
we pick up right where we left off.
It is still raining in Maine.
***
Catherine Garbinsky is a writer, a witch, and a worrier living in Northern California. She holds a degree in The Poetics of Transformation: Creative Writing, Religion, and Social Justice from the University of Redlands. Catherine’s chapbook of Ursula Le Guin erasures, All Spells Are Strong Here, is part of the Ghost City Press 2018 Summer Series. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in L’éphémére Review, Rose Quartz Journal, Venefica Magazine, Cauldron Anthology, and others.