Joanna Cleary
blood
my veins are fat with greed
and my body is bloated with
blood, distant, naked like a prayer.
i want, i need, i always begin
while hastily rubbing my skin
until it is rough and concave
and there is nothing left but
rubbery silence that spends
hours stretching itself out
until i hear something tear.
it is a hollow sound filled
with open mouths and pauses.
my blood is childish, always
crying give me, give me, give
me, and curling itself slowly
into confession. my blood is
saturated with scabby words
that ricochet like breath off
bones and belief. my blood is
swollen, waiting. none of us
are immune to hope and i am
no exception. the heart is a
hymn that plays achingly
onward into the murky night
until my skeleton is red like faith
and the raw unanswered sunrise.
Joanna Cleary’s poetry has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Cicada Magazine, Inklette Magazine, Glass Kite Anthology, Parallel Ink, Phosphene Literary Journal, and On the Rusk. She recently became a Poetry Reader for Inklette Magazine. When Joanna is not writing, she can be found reading, eating various forms of chocolate, and, of course, thinking about writing. Joanna currently attends the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
This poem is not previously published.