The Mechanics of Molting
Rent from DeepDyve- The Mechanics of Molting
The man in the hall is rough, saysWhy did you lock the door?The bang is a shudder,
though it is not me who is letting him in.Nonetheless, I spread tothe irritation of his gritted teeth.
I once saw a town in Nebraskapiled with sugar beets shapedlike the hips of women.
A mound of bruised purplingat the edge of the sky. That nightmy flashlight was a penknife
entering the delicate crisscrossof a gutted deer swayingfrom a tree in someone's yard.
In recognition, I too peeled downto glistening. Inhaled the pungent smell:ragweed like tin with bee juice in it.
Under a rough tongue, what leakscan be sweetness. In another light, the spread skin,just a thing to spit. [End Page 43]
Ruth Williams is the author of Flatlands (2018) and Conveyance (2012). Her poetry has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, jubilat, Pleiades, and Third Coast, among others. Currently she is an assistant professor of English at William Jewell College and an editor for Bear Review.
