December 7, 2010

December 7th: Katie Jean Shinkle

There Are So Many People Who Want To See You While You’re Home

For mothers who need avenged, a son’s killing, this son’s
    killing a weakness of mother, dear Mother,
Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas,
    The Furies seek and destroy, do not kill anyone
including a parent
    this parent, apparent, we are backing up and down
we are backing up back back it up back back it up
and velocity, killing me, this is killing me—

Even now, the Justice, this Justice, the neighbor says
    she doesn’t want you talking to her little girl
anymore, she doesn’t know you, doesn’t know you
    the Justice the Justice. Before a court of law,

these weights and measures, a sword to the sky and scales
    so many scales, this Athenian tribe,
this impaneled jury, this hung and hung jury.

In reverse, an upheaval. Merry, Happy, Happy—
    Happy, Merry, Happy.


Katie Jean Shinkle is Assistant Poetry Editor for DIAGRAM. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Eleven Eleven Journal, American Poetry Journal, Bluestem Magazine and NANO Fiction, among others.

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