"Twelve Gates" by Laura Da’

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend Support Poem-a-Day November 14, 2019   Twelve Gates   Laura Da'

Strict and bound  as an analog watch,  Aristotelian narrative  calls for a probable necessary sequence.  It is suicide season. The calendar taunts  with year three's death dance.  Dialysate swills  in my abdomen.  Long arrows of surgery  nudge under my ribs             trace my hipbones                          garland my navel.  Along my lower back  divots of biopsy freckle into sickles  when I bend over.  Driving over the city bridge  quirk or quark humming             I might be spared. My grandmother loved singing O What a Beautiful City  as she sorted her pills. The anesthetic mask shatters linear discipline:             Trotting the deep path by mosslight,              son is a dark-haired universe              in the crook of my right arm.              Five pound blood-hum             prayer and verse ripping              my skull pure off.             Time has me scalped             kissing the whorls of my brain              with frank red lips.  Rolling up from surgery I look down to my wrist where someone has clasped  my watch on loosely.            Copyright © 2019 by Laura Da'. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 14, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About this Poem   "I wrote 'Twelve Gates' after organ transplant surgery." —Laura Da'   Laura Da' is a poet and teacher. Her newest book is Instruments of the True Measure (University of Arizona Press, 2018). She lives in Newcastle, Washington. Poetry by Da'   Instruments of the True Measure (University of Arizona Press, 2018)  "Cross/Bite" by Tiana Clark "To Be Continued:" by June Jordan "Afternoon at MacDowell" by Jane Kenyon November Guest Editor: Sherwin Bitsui   Thanks to Sherwin Bitsui, author of Dissolve (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Bitsui about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. A culture break, a source of daily renewal...   If reading Poem-a-Day has become a meaningful part of your day, please consider supporting this free series with a donation. Your gift makes publishing Poem-a-Day possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit poets.org   Unsubscribe here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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