Poetry By Kathleen Latham

        Katie Taylor CC




TO THE BONE

Sitting at the dinner table,
mouths drawn tight,
eyes cast downward,
the only sound the
clink, clink, clink
of fork against plate,
blade against steel,
a surgical accompaniment
to the tension
which rises and threatens
to burst but fails,
interminably.

I would welcome anger’s cacophony:
words thrown and broken,
shards of fury hitting the walls,
raining down at our feet.

—say something
—say something
—say something

But there is my mother on her throne
of resentment. And there is my father
an oblivious counterweight.
And I cannot move, cannot speak,
I can barely lift my head, so heavy
is the silence.

This is our meal.
Words picked clean.
Bones of emotion
sucked of their marrow
then left on a plate
to be passed
from hand to hand.

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GIVE ME BACK

Give me back my innocence. Thumbs in a cootie catcher.
Mansion/Apartment/Shack/House. Brick wall, waterfall.
Middle school gym transformed into something beautiful.
                Like me.

Give me back my clichés. Windows down, radio on,
life-is-coming-for-us clichés. That big sky feeling.
Ward off the inevitable crash, the gravel in the knee,
the looks that cut and words that scar. The onslaught
                of cruelty.

Give me back my body. The ridge of my hip, curve
of my breast, delight of my legs. My heart beating,
wanting, pure. Let me tuck it away like a pebble
in my pocket to touch, to feel, to ground me
in what is real and worth keeping.
                Or better yet

Give me Rage. White hot Justice. Enough
with these laugh track Lotharios and cartoon villains.
Show the wolf for what he is: teeth, claws,
                a belly full of bones.

Give me the girl who says, Hell No. Who says,
I take back what is mine and reject your narrative,
your cookie cutter victim/hero dichotomy.
I reserve the right to delineate my happiness
                and my heartbreak.

I reclaim that girl.
I call her by her name.

Our past is ours
to do with
what we will.

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Kathleen Latham’s work has appeared in Red Eft Review, 100 Word Story, and Red Wolf Journal, among others. A mother of four grown children, she now lavishes all her attention on her ungrateful cat. She lives in Massachusetts and can be found at @lathamwithapen or online at KathleenLatham.com.
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