Eve Eldred
FOR MARY KAY LETOURNEAU
What have you done, love-blind
and quiet,
need opening in you like lips,
fear shining like a secret
behind the backstairs;
What have you done,
touching that child;
Lady your house is on fire,
your sink full of dishes,
the straight-backed chairs of your father’s love
smiling like bright-eyed kids;
We have told you, counseled you,
thrust the flyers of our rational mind
into your hands,
opened ourselves like a hung wide-armed jesus;
What have you done,
touching that child,
his balls little round worlds on your thigh,
his hand shy underneath you with
its whispered words;
What was it like,
that first time,
upstairs in the bedroom with a boy at your breast,
our shouts outside on the doorstep,
determined shackles grating,
all witches luminous
in the hungry leap
of torchlight.
Location: St. Louis, Missouri Email: joneseve@hotmail.com
