{"id":5523,"date":"2020-10-12T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T09:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&p=5523"},"modified":"2020-10-12T09:00:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T09:00:19","slug":"there-they-are","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/there-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"There They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

my mother, my father. Her skinny<\/span>
\nblue wrists, his ear caressing a cigarette.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the beginning,
\nit is already too late,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but there is hunger & no time
\nto waste. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All they need are six hands, three mouths, a clockwork
\nyearning for locks of their own, windows square & fresh.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the beginning,
\nmy cry breaks my father, who flushes red at my fall, opens my face in search
\nof his mother. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Grasses, grasses on a country
\nroad, hawthorn up to their waists,
\naflame.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The crying of no mothers.\u00a0 Temple bells hung
\nby the wind.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An October without moons,
\na feeling I\u2019ve been here before. \u00a0Dew on the page.
\nWindows billowing \u00a0\u00a0wax paper.
\nFall\u2019s charred eyelids. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Toes pressing down my own wet
\nimprint.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Begin the world without a bang.
\nWater, air,\u00a0\u00a0 the Earth split into an egg,
\nelements halved for light. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No mothers, just two figures on a bicycle
\nfor one.\u00a0\u00a0 A sweaty country road. Stoves that won\u2019t start,
\nboxes of damp matchsticks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Strain of a blue wrist
\nuntucking cigarettes from his lips
\nprayer of hands inside the ashes of mothers,
\nsingle finger curving to a hush. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Careful,
\nhold the glass up to one eye, split the nucleus
\nwith the other, explosions muted by winged lungs.
\nPut down my pen. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unfold my eyes.\u00a0 Count backwards
\nbefore legs, before longing, until I hit a snag in the web,
\nopen,\u00a0\u00a0 to find my palm full of tears.
\nOnce, there were no mothers. Trace the outline,
\none, two, build a family from hunger. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Listen, a cry, mine,
\ndragging her mother\u2019s last breath up the jagged washboard as he soaps
\nmy throat clean, baptizing his mother\u2019s blackened lungs.
\nMy mouth opens\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to wake their beginning & just like that
\nblesses our downfall.
\nThere, stretch the canvas, spread oil thin-thin
\ninto our crevasses, what\u2019s that in the distance? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No mother,
\nnot the moon,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 just six hands bent over a clock face with no opening,
\nporcelain spoons\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 raised to another\u2019s lips,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tap – tap we widen
\nour insides until ink forks our edges.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the beginning,
\nan October without night. Windows torn
\nopen with flashlights. Hawthorn dawning a mother\u2019s last breath.
\nLet me begin\u00a0\u00a0 again,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Put down my pen. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unfold my eyes.\u00a0 Count backwards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5556,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[6,201],"class_list":["post-5523","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThere They Are - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/there-they-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There They Are - The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Put down my pen. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unfold my eyes.\u00a0 Count backwards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/there-they-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Florida Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/09\/xu_h.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/there-they-are\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/there-they-are\/\",\"name\":\"There They Are - 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