Kristi Maxwell
Before After
The breadking appeared
in breaking’s misspelling: his rise
accidental, and, now, yeas exchanged
for yeast. The laughability tempers
the tragedy, but does not change it.
Language always the jester.
What do you think the Cheshire cat’s
grin was made of if not the word teeth?
But it wasn’t the word, though t’s
touched t’s to demarcate each tooth
in the cartoon mouth. It was the idea—
and the irreconcilability between the idea
and its articulation.
Kristi Maxwell is the author of Realm Sixty-Four (Ahsahta Press, 2008), Hush Sessions (Saturnalia, 2009), RE- (Ahsahta Press, 2011), That Our Eyes Be Rigged (Saturnalia Books, 2014), and Plan/k (Horse Less Press, 2015). Her honors include the Greta Wrolstad Scholarship for Young Poets through the Summer Literary Seminars, the Phyllis Smart- Young Prize in Poetry, and the Margaret Sterling Memorial Award.
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