Knechtel, Jane

English

The Open Repository @Binghamton (The ORB)

Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal Volume 6 Issue 2 Article 5 January 2007 Holy Jane Knechtel Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate Recommended Citation Knechtel, Jane (2007) "Holy," Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 5. Available at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/vol6/iss2/5 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. H OLY MILTON KESSLER MEMORIAL PRI ZE FINALIST Jane Knech cel At fi rst I was perfecr. I sp read myself o ut like a forest And hard ly ch ought of ho me, Unt il she hung a star o n my head And draped my lim bs in fi re. My needles dropped like bombs. The old dream, the old dream: A child in 1he living room, Wise men adrift on the roof The ho urs drag by here. I am as beaut ifu l and useless as man ufactured snow. I annoy her now with my endless cri es for water. At night she steps into che living roo m Like a girl loo kin g fo r a dance parrn er-We sway in my imaginary arms. All the world is fiw asleep Eccept the 1ree, except 1he tree And three lone wise men and me. My days here are numbered. She no lo nger co mes to me at n ight. he wa nes to be unstirred aga in , Like a child who has given up believ ing in anra, O r a woman who has sto pped counting wa rs in her head-The idea of a tree co nsoling her unbearab le. I nm crying in 1he dream, l1110 the arms of a tree. \.\1/ise men are tmwling the gutters. 14 1Knechtel: HolyPublished by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB), 2007

Holy

https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1328&context=harpurpalate

Holy

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