Anti-Heroin Chic
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

​

9/30/2021

Poetry by Sarah Browning

Picture
              ​Nic McPhee CC



​
pain

pain a glistening
     sheen of the shoulder
                of the neck

nowhere but satined
     body, back of knot
                and gristle

head high on weary
     hurting pedestal
                neck

working body that hardly
     works
                neck of sorrow

hold against it
     swallow it
                lie

the boredom of it
     the sameness
                where can I 

take you, pain 
     bathe you
                lay you down

centuries 
     of heart pain songs
                but body –

where’s your wracking tune
     where the pipes and fiddle of this –





pain

pain begs for 
     the long lung of today
Friday, day of forgiveness   
     day of ache 
and sad sunshine

hold pain breathing 
     at its birth
sniff its soft cap 
     of baby hair
coo out your love

to lower the shoulders 
     of pain
to raise the tired swallow 
     of pain
to Jesus pain back to its origin





pain

my love reminds me
              I do not have to be 
              lonely in my pain

he offers his lips 
              to my neck 

to my shoulders
              their clench and sorrow

but in the backroom behind 
              the room most know
              despair runs the show

sweetheart I am sorry 
              I do not know 

how to send
              the bouncer packing

how to lift the rope

​
Picture
Sarah Browning is the author of two books of poems, Killing Summer (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017) and Whiskey in the Garden of Eden (The Word Works, 2007). She is co-founder and for 10 years was Executive Director of Split This Rock. An Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, she is the recipient of the 2019 Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award, as well as fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Yaddo, Mesa Refuge, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Adirondack Center for Writing. She has been guest editor or co-edited special issues of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Delaware Poetry Review, and POETRY magazine. For 13 years, Browning curated and co-hosted the Sunday Kind of Love poetry series at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC. She has an MFA in poetry and creative nonfiction from Rutgers University Camden. More at: http://www.sarahbrowning.net




Torii Black
10/7/2021 10:27:35 am

Thank you for sharing your chronic pain in such meaningful lines. If you haven’t tried it already, I really recommend EFT. It makes some days much more tolerable. 💜

Lauren Poper
10/22/2021 05:54:52 am

I feel seen. I feel known. I feel not alone. 💜


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.