- “The Book of Hours ” And “ The Ways They Silence Women ”
The Book of Hours
January
It begins, suspended bustles and thighs that don’t touch spread like a mass grave uncovered.
February
Is this you hovering? Face, curving letters and exclamations, mouth-tough and glistening a threat. [End Page 261]
March
Your body— white shark.
April
squeeze together bleed into and out of pretense discontinue promise
May
Moss weather and yellow identity.
June
Crablike I creak gold and pearl.
July
i itch you peel my skin off like a tarp [End Page 262]
August
memory suicide
September
my mythology punishes.
October
In my dream, I moved your hand onto my belt. You parted my lips. We were not far apart then. You did not speak You were welcome intrusion You were list less lost last lust I forget.
November
cold like jade I self-heal expand like a clot I am chemical I am blood in the toilet [End Page 263] cliffs shrinking wet cornhusk three colors haunting each other hunted unsettled discard I am purposeful bride
December
like sleep, falls lightly.
The Ways They Silence Women
the ways they silence women:
roll of paper or piece of wood stuffed
these are days when living as a woman is acknowledging you are
a rape waiting to happen no matter how many lemons you scrub on
your skin to stop smelling of yourself
Angela Vernica Wong recently named a kitten Galliano and even more recently painted her bathroom hot pink. She lives and dances in New York City. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Barrow Street, Womb, and Court Green.
Acknowledgment
The calendar poems are a series of short poems under the title “The Book of Hours.” “June” was previously published in Foursquare (edited and published by Jessica Smith, 2007; reprinted by permission of the author). [End Page 264]