"This from a Rib" by Candice Kelsey

This from a Rib

The genesis 
of verse and versus
Adam named the animals
Eve bit back 
licked that sour apple
silencing the violence of their frail
orb-strange partnership

like J___ and T__
who could not agree 
what to call me lump of feathers
the apple of their eyes
Mary or Candice

hoods of shame 
slung upon me like shells
their marriage nibbled away
by narcissism
by dementia’s teeth 
dribbling bits of flesh 
that still fall
still fail.

Seeping into her mind’s soil
like libations
is Clytaemnestra’s 
nightmare 
bearing a viper
twin fangs unraveling
a dirty pulse like a whip
of white noise

I turn serpent 
both Candice and Mary
_____ neither
really never double back

from my father’s rib 
mother’s womb 
fading omphalos moon
I sleepwalk Dunsinane and swallow
my tongue
for forty-seven years 

their battle
still germinates
its seeds begin to sprout a tail
I can feel the push 
in my chest
like paper and maybe bone

Candice Kelsey

Candice Kelsey [she/her] is a poet, educator, and activist currently living in Augusta, Georgia. She serves as a creative writing mentor with PEN America's Prison & Justice Writing Program; her work appears in Grub Street, Poet Lore, Lumiere Review, Hawai'i Pacific Review, and Slant among other journals. Recently, Candice was chosen as a finalist in Iowa Review's Poetry Contest and Cutthroat's Joy Harjo Poetry Prize. Her third book titled A Poet just released with Alien Buddha Press. Find her @candicekelsey1 and www.candicemkelseypoet.com.

Headshot: Leora Wright

Photo Credit: Shayne Schultz