All I have known for the most of my life
is the way my own knees look near
the edge of my skirt. Mostly I’m afraid
but sometimes I don’t even notice
when I’m driving next to a hearse
or a truck carrying coffins. How can
a life be more beautiful than a sun because
of its brevity. I tap my knees fondly
and without thinking of my body
as a nothing to be revealed.
EMMA BOLDEN is the author of a memoir, The Tiger and the Cage (Soft Skull), and the poetry collections House Is an Enigma, medi(t)ations, and Maleficae. Her work has appeared in such journals as Ploughshares,
The Gettysburg Review, the New England Review, The Seneca Review, Pleiades, Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly, and Shenandoah. She is an editor of Screen Door Review. www.emmabolden.com