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Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 7.1 (2007) 70

Skin
Laurie Kutchins

Everything has a voice, even the skin
the black snake left beside the house
the day the golden tulips bloomed
and overpowered the sun. Never seen,
that snake leaves its skin behind
each spring like a secret gift
no longer dark or urgent without
its body. Oh
look at me, I've grown
and grown more beautiful
, its voice
thralls from the grass, all
its language new and moving
in the skin like thunder
gathering into a noon
yet to form:
Have you heard me
down in the ductwork
of your house
living on mice?
Have you lived yet
a day without fear?
If not skin, what
will you come to shed?

Laurie Kutchins is Professor of English at James Madison University. She is the author of Between Towns (Texas Tech Press, 1993) and The Night Path (BOA Editions, Ltd., 1997). Her poems and essays have appeared widely in The New Yorker, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Orion, Urthona, and other magazines. Her most recent book of poems, Slope of the Child Everlasting, will be published by BOA Editions in May 2007. kutchill@hotmail.com

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