Winner of the 2019 Yellowwood Poetry Priz

Brown, Emily

English

eGrove (Univ. of Mississippi)

Yalobusha Review Volume 29 Article 8 Spring 2019 Half-crown Emily Brown Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/yr Recommended Citation Brown, Emily (2019) "Half-crown," Yalobusha Review: Vol. 29 , Article 8. Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/yr/vol29/iss1/8 This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yalobusha Review by an authorized editor of eGrove. For more information, please contact egrove@olemiss.edu. HALF-CROWNEmily BrownRobyn Schiff selected “Half-crown” for the 2019 Yellowwood Poetry Prize.She writes, “Descending backward into girlhood via etymology and memory, ‘Half-crown’ is a forceful, understated poem about the violence of keeping secrets andthe relief of their release.”the artists are absentinstead here is a fileof all i rememberthere was a painting of a boywith penguins in the backgroundand reflected in his eyesthe etymology of pupilas in the pupilof an eyeis from pupameaning not fully formed orgirl, the same as pupilas in studentas in a forming bugthe victorians sometimes calledlocking eyeslooking babiesthe small reflections of selfseen in the eyes of anotheryour baby self and mineengage in a shootoutlike playing a game of chickenwho blinks losesthe idea is that stoicism is goodand hot and honorablei never shot first but1Brown: Half-crownPublished by eGrove,i look to filland will never take what i wanti remember on the playgroundcupping my handaround the ears of other childrenpretending to tell a secretand spitting insteadis that cruelty?i think i just wantedto know what would happenthe kind of thingyou only get away with oncethe thing that disturbs meis i can never remember what happenedafter, i mean, meaning trouble ora hard hit to the sternumother stories i toldwere truer secretsin the slumber party schedulethis was the last thing before bedi recounted the worst thingthat had happened to mein every detailwhich maybe explainshow it all comes backjust like thati liked how all the girlswould lean forwardto better hear mewith their bodiesthe sad thing isi was just earlyi am never surprisedto hear of anyone else’sit is assumed like all banalitiesyou grow olderyou hold your rapeunder your shirtlike library books whenan unexpected rain comes2Yalobusha Review, Vol. 29 [], Art. 8https://egrove.olemiss.edu/yr/vol29/iss1/8i don’t tell the details muchthere are no more slumber partiesand it would take a long timefor us all to have a turnin the coffee shopthe barista and a regulardiscuss the woman singingand how fame ruined her lyricsand voiceand how they liked her so muchwhen she was newand youngshe is on her eighth albumit is too badthey both saythat anyone else had touched herwe all have our collectibleseveryone is an archivistEMILY BROWN’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Denver Quarterly,Bennington Review, Prelude, Sonora Review, glitterMOB, and Lambda Literary’sPoetry Spotlight, among others. She is currently an Editorial Assistant at PoetryNorthwest and The Iowa Review and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’Workshop. She lives in Boulder.3Brown: Half-crownPublished by eGrove,

Half-crown

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=yr

Half-crown

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