Machan, Katharyn Howd

English

The Open Repository @Binghamton (The ORB)

Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal Volume 8 Issue 2 Article 4 January 2009 Salvation Army Katharyn Howd Machan Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate Recommended Citation Machan, Katharyn Howd (2009) "Salvation Army," Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal: Vol. 8: Iss. 2, Article 4. Available at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/vol8/iss2/4 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. MILTON KESSLER POETRY CONTEST FINALIST SALVATION ARMY Katharyn Howd Machan So they become others' stories, my chairs. What I tipped over and draped with lace as I turned into a dragon lover, fearing nothing but my grandmother's voice as she coldly called me to soup. What someone's cautious hands had cut and cucved and screwed and polished deep oceans away in a land called Denmark years befo re I cracked the world with my smile of fire and ice. What my father and mother chose to offer Connecticut guests, first in their home of Colonial splendor, then in their broken house of dark dust. What my brother inherited and used to play cards with the dim-eyed men who swore they saw nothing wrong with his days of shuttered windows, broken toilet, unwashed hair over ears without song. What I carried away when he killed himself, silent, short winter dawn time's sharp laugh against love. Impossible smoke forced them into my cellar, cigar reek his touch until quince blossoms bloomed. Even then my front porch 1Machan: Salvation ArmyPublished by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB), 2009KATHARYN Howo MAcHAN could not bear his harsh ashes: what once guarded treasure turned into stained bones. 11 2Harpur Palate: a Literary Journal, Vol. 8, Iss. 2 [2009], Art. 4https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/vol8/iss2/4

Salvation Army

https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1515&context=harpurpalate

Salvation Army

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