<\/p>\n
I was playing again on the stone stairs.<\/p>\n
I could hear the hiss of seconds passing.<\/p>\n
My mother sat as I\u2019d left her,<\/p>\n
among mothers, aiming a thread<\/p>\n
through a needle\u2019s eye. All was<\/p>\n
as it should be. I shouted grave orders<\/p>\n
to the dolls, my prisoners.<\/p>\n
Clearly I was still afraid of my largeness,<\/p>\n
my separateness, my long<\/p>\n
horrible arms striking out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Supplicants and prey. The hissing<\/p>\n sweeping hand. All was as it<\/p>\n ever is. I turned on a top stair.<\/p>\n Open the door, and the world\u2019s silver wires<\/p>\n sizzle\u2014long lit hallways with workers<\/p>\n hawking their nations\u2019 wares.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A passing-by of shoes with gold buttons. So like<\/p>\n my own. I step over the threshold . . .<\/p>\n a hissing sweep of my gown.<\/p>\n I open my eyes. Trust now:<\/p>\n the body will know what I am<\/p>\n and what to do about it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Reentry” is from Nance Van Winckel’s\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0most recent collection of poetry, No Starling, <\/a><\/em>published by University of Washington Press.<\/a>\u00a0She is the author of five books of poems and three books of short stories. A fourth book of stories will be released in 2013. Nance has created a new form she calls Pho-toems <\/a>which combines photography and poetry. “I have not left poetry. \u00a0I’m just putting it on walls.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reentry I was playing again on the stone stairs. I could hear the hiss of seconds passing. My mother sat as I\u2019d left her, among mothers, aiming a thread through a needle\u2019s eye. All was as it should be. … Continue reading