I3 Kessler

the whole world hums                                      in the V of your shirt
this is where                                                         my hunger begins
the day’s rain gathers                                       until we’re swimming in it
a lake of want                                                      silty & slow
the rural midnight                                             darker than eyes stitched shut
translates to                                                         your folded tongue & foreign lips
these words                                                          small enough to swallow
please, peel me open                                       expose me, fuzzed skin & ridged pit
until my insides shine                                      with blood so thick, it oozes black
while grit lodges in my teeth                         make your hands a shovel
uncover me                                                          unbury me
from this cave of sand & tendons                from what hovers between
the no & the yes                                                  the shutter & its release
held in place                                                         even after the camera is lowered

Caroline Kessler was born outside Baltimore and currently lives in San Francisco. Her prose and poetry has been published in The Susquehanna Review, Anderbo, In Bantam, Collision, and New Voices, among others. She is an honors graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied creative writing and religion. Stalk her at carokess.info.