Brimhall, Traci

English

The Open Repository @Binghamton (The ORB)

Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal Volume 7 Issue 2 Article 19 December 2008 Margaret Garner Explains It to Her Daughter Traci Brimhall Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate Recommended Citation Brimhall, Traci (2008) "Margaret Garner Explains It to Her Daughter," Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal: Vol. 7: Iss. 2, Article 19. Available at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/vol7/iss2/19 This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact ORB@binghamton.edu. MARGARET GARNER EXPLAINS IT TO HER DAUGHTER Traci Brimhall I saved you, my dark Kentucky child. In soft hours we crossed the frozen Ohio, our laps full of snow, the moon smooth and mournful as milk. Stars knotted the sky, ropes of hard light leading north , and we drifted through a night of pine trees and blue dreaming. The cold breath of ho rses bear the air. Ice murmured with the weight of us. When men broke our door, I put my finger to the uncl~sed spot on your skull , soft as bruised fruit. I knew it would knit together, that you'd grow long and beautiful, and I knew each hair rooting, each word you'd learn was more to lose. Someone would buy your body, your low songs, a man would call himself master and take you with rocks in his kisses. The voices of men grew large as trees. I saw the knife on the table, thin as prayer, and I thought of lovers carving initials into bark to say "This is love." This is love: I rook your throat and I cur it. I cur it. I made you cross a new river filled with bones, rocks and stars. C up the light. Carry it north . 62 1Brimhall: Margaret Garner Explains It to Her DaughterPublished by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB), 2008

Margaret Garner Explains It to Her Daughter

https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1394&context=harpurpalate

Margaret Garner Explains It to Her Daughter

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