"Faisa" by Kyle Churney

Your curls are soaked in gold but your fingers

Support Poem-a-Day February 7, 2020   Faisa Kyle Churney Your curls are soaked in gold but your fingers cling to my back & could work a filament & needle through the gash that leads to the decayed rafters of a barn hush the pigeons who coo there one by one by breaking their necks The river smells of September wending through the dry fields a blue vein your thumb traces along a wrist my wrist careful never to the source I've slept with the image of your arm on my chest your breath collects in the tiniest droplets on my neck but touching myself to your scalp's human smell tarnishes the mirror's silver backing Another woman holds your beloved's hands You hold me like the blue of an egg you've found bulging from the grass Trade your house key for a clutch of mums we'll put in water on the sill Fold your ring in the chapped hand of a man waiting by the exit ramp though the jingle of coins or a bitten chicken sandwich would do Turn to me & lift your hair I'll clasp on you a necklace strung with the heads of snakes Copyright © 2020 by Kyle Churney. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 7, 2020, by the Academy of American Poets.   "After abandoning a much wordier draft of 'Faisa' for a few months, I jettisoned most of its length and punctuation when I got to work on it again. Though I had to cut a few words I love (Chingy, L'Erable, liquory), once I did so and chose a woman's name as the title, the poem found the intimacy it was needing. If I told you what inspired it, it could seem trite. But, ultimately, that might be one of the reasons I needed time away: to forget the facts; to remember, instead, how I felt; then, to create that feeling—in spite of fact—in words." —Kyle Churney    Kyle Churney teaches at a community college and lives in Chicago, Illinois. "California No" by Rae Gouirand read more "Ash Ode" by Dean Young  read more Thanks to Roger Reeves, author of King Me (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read an extended Q&A about Reeves' curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Make a one-time contribution to help us publish Poem-a-Day.   Make your support go further by enrolling in monthly giving and joining the Mug Club! Copyright © 2020 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: The Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane St #901 New York, NY 10038 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.