Tag Archives: Megan Merchant

CPR Volume 20, Issue 1

The pain-body
by Megan Merchant

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blurs iridescent
after meds—

the sun’s dry-light
sleeking drab.

The pain-body
sings musty
as a moth-wing-tongue,

calls you into the room
with coffee

and a garden of oils
to rub the muscles soft—

my skin of yeast and sugar,
my skin of howls

under your hands,

unknotting the
branches
that have thorned
my spine.

 

Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 20, Issue 1.

Megan MerchantMegan Merchant lives in the tall pines of Prescott, AZ. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Gravel Ghosts (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), The Dark’s Humming (2015 Lyrebird Award Winner, Glass Lyre Press, 2017), four chapbooks, and a forthcoming children’s book with Philomel Books. You can find her work at meganmerchant.wix.com/poet.

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Visit Megan Merchant’s contributors page.

CPR Volume 19, Issue 4

Cafuné
by Megan Merchant

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“The act of running ones fingers tenderly though somebody’s hair.”
(Brazilian Portuguese).

I’ll take fifteen minutes
to put on the rain
while you jazz,

hinting at the zipper-fit
of a single glass of red,

you say love, as in
a need, a country.

I lay a silk scarf
over the fishbowl,

watch
your hands
working the knife
through the onion, whole,
with such delicate
anger,

diced small
into tears,

but oh, how
we open
our mouths
at the reach of each other,

pretending
we’re going to pull
the cork free,

sleep with the windows
open,

be okay watching our breath
wander acres of dark
like arrows,

under clouds
that seem to have
bellied just for us,

the way, when we first met,
you paused

and came close to touching
my cheek,

saying I like
the way you wear your hair—
straight, damp.

Not needing
a name, or address,

but a promise—
the soft heart of bread
when it’s broken,

the crust—
trailed all over the floor.
 

Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 19, Issue 4.

Megan MerchantMegan Merchant lives in the tall pines of Prescott, AZ. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Gravel Ghosts (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), The Dark’s Humming (2015 Lyrebird Award Winner, Glass Lyre Press, 2017), four chapbooks, and a forthcoming children’s book with Philomel Books. You can find her work at meganmerchant.wix.com/poet.

See all items about Megan Merchant

Visit Megan Merchant’s contributors page.