Balm (excerpt)
by T.A. Noonan
I. Ishtar
oil warms
one month of radiation
crowns shine by moonlight
& a crescent-shaped scar
crosslight
where my daughter's hand comes back
the initiate dresses herself
IV. Inanna
my second language
to silence
plainsong of
the breast
wind over reeds
the mother sings
stirring honey
X. Aphrodite
clad in little trees
steel slipped beneath linen
& skin
her ankle a forest of kisses
healer's hands
her breath on my ear
shaping the sign for remission
the cure for winter
XV. Kali
cut here & see
cut here & see
how much woman can live
how black my skin with blood
inside half a woman
who stands on another's back
XVIII. Demeter
& what of my daughter
who seeks me in a field
unsure of her own skin
one eye cast back
to a clump of daisies
fingers searching the dark pulp for pits
XIX. Parvati
tilt your face toward mine
this is a woman's jaw
it cannot be held open by force
remember you are annoited by queens
remember you are your mother's voice
this is the last place we will speak so freely
when the breads left altarside stale, we shall forget our tongues
XXV. Lilith
slice an apple sideways to reveal the star
a cherry-blossom space
my husband believed the pale inner fruit
should stay pale outer color an estimation
how sugar could burst in his mouth like a supernova
my secret
what browns so quick is what surrounds
nothing fades when nothing is there
XXVI. Shekhinah
no pink in a tiger's eye
flash of asbestos rainbow
each iris spark a layer of pressure
speaking what the mouth cannot
born dark & poisonous
still I rise in shimmers
oil warms
one month of radiation
crowns shine by moonlight
& a crescent-shaped scar
crosslight
where my daughter's hand comes back
the initiate dresses herself
IV. Inanna
my second language
to silence
plainsong of
the breast
wind over reeds
the mother sings
stirring honey
X. Aphrodite
clad in little trees
steel slipped beneath linen
& skin
her ankle a forest of kisses
healer's hands
her breath on my ear
shaping the sign for remission
the cure for winter
XV. Kali
cut here & see
cut here & see
how much woman can live
how black my skin with blood
inside half a woman
who stands on another's back
XVIII. Demeter
& what of my daughter
who seeks me in a field
unsure of her own skin
one eye cast back
to a clump of daisies
fingers searching the dark pulp for pits
XIX. Parvati
tilt your face toward mine
this is a woman's jaw
it cannot be held open by force
remember you are annoited by queens
remember you are your mother's voice
this is the last place we will speak so freely
when the breads left altarside stale, we shall forget our tongues
XXV. Lilith
slice an apple sideways to reveal the star
a cherry-blossom space
my husband believed the pale inner fruit
should stay pale outer color an estimation
how sugar could burst in his mouth like a supernova
my secret
what browns so quick is what surrounds
nothing fades when nothing is there
XXVI. Shekhinah
no pink in a tiger's eye
flash of asbestos rainbow
each iris spark a layer of pressure
speaking what the mouth cannot
born dark & poisonous
still I rise in shimmers
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Author's Note
This excerpt from Balm (2006) first appeared in the 5th issue of Melancholia's Tremulous Dreadlocks. The entire 30-poem sequence was later published as a chapbook by Flaming Giblet Press.
Other stories by T.A. Noonan
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