Darcy Smith (3 poems)
Half-Life
When you die, where will we meet?
Will you wake me with tinny shouts eh eh uh
Your fisticuffs, the devil’s head, you have to–
his pronged tongue, a captious hiss from the hemlock.
You remember him, the crack of a broken branch.
When you die, if we meet, will the soft dent
of your pillow feel repeated? Will I forget the taste
of our lips, our legs, our yesterdays, will your hands
speak to me of first love, avocado slivers? When our hips
give way to soil, our toes, like hungry ants will file inside
these peony-drunk-petals. When you die, we’ll meet
in dreams of stamen nectar. You didn’t mean
to punch my cheek, you were kerosene when you hit–
Dolls hang from strings above our bed. Air whooshes when I snap their plastic heads. Our room smells giddy. The wind,
umami. When you die, come find me in the peonies.
Tossed
The still river rose that August
evening you lured me
like a Sunfish caught
instead of trout, too small, tossed out
in court two years later too
much work to gut you, too much
work to remember which hand
you used to open–
your switchblade tore
that night into two arms into fury,
too much to recall where the blood began
where my blouse ripped. Where I wouldn’t
look, my eyes fixed like a fish hooked
gills silent closing. I will never
forget your rabid breath, your lashing
tongue, unwanted. No, they weren’t yours
to claim. They’re mine, held tender
by the quarter moon. She churns
you in fresh river blood, uprooting waters,
silt and mud. Lay narrow now
your cutting breath, a four-inch Sunny
left rotting on the deck.
Jellyfish in June
An ocean of shadow circles
me like carrion, cawing my chest
hollow as a horseshoe crab that held
a heart, lungs and blood. The husk, shored
without a pulse. This beach, my breath, held fast.
Darcy Smith works as a sign language interpreter. Her poems have appeared and are forthcoming in Poetry Distillery, ArtAscent, New Reader Magazine, Sequestrum, Coe Review and Two Thirds North. Darcy is a Buddhist and a kickboxer. Her current obsession is executing a six punch three kick combination with perfect form.