if it's chilled
if your bones ache with it
if the silence is unbearable
if the space imitates hunger
if hips hurt to walk in
if it presses so close
close enough
for you to feel each, solitary thread
if it breaks
what then - are there enough senses
running interference
enough gin, enough women
with pupils golden flecked and blue and green
sipping sloe, skin that's
comfortably inhabited, bones like
frayed corduroy armchairs
is it enough
to furnish your house with
a fence for memories
kept stunted
rambunctious
or is there only one
Author Bio:
Hannah Coakley is urban theorist and nutritionist by trade. She spends her days deep in the labyrinth of the American food system, trying to understand how the complex tangle of food, politics, and community is best unwound. She loved writing from an early age and, after a long hiatus, rediscovered poetry as her pastime, her passion, and her most intimate relationship. She has been greatly influenced by the works of Elizabeth Bishop, Gertrude Stein, and Adrienne Rich. Some of Hannah's essays and poems can be found online at Rebelle Society. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from New York University and an MS in Public Health and Human Nutrition from Johns Hopkins University, but she is most proud of her ability to create and maintain nourishing, lifelong friendships.
if your bones ache with it
if the silence is unbearable
if the space imitates hunger
if hips hurt to walk in
if it presses so close
close enough
for you to feel each, solitary thread
if it breaks
what then - are there enough senses
running interference
enough gin, enough women
with pupils golden flecked and blue and green
sipping sloe, skin that's
comfortably inhabited, bones like
frayed corduroy armchairs
is it enough
to furnish your house with
a fence for memories
kept stunted
rambunctious
or is there only one
Author Bio:
Hannah Coakley is urban theorist and nutritionist by trade. She spends her days deep in the labyrinth of the American food system, trying to understand how the complex tangle of food, politics, and community is best unwound. She loved writing from an early age and, after a long hiatus, rediscovered poetry as her pastime, her passion, and her most intimate relationship. She has been greatly influenced by the works of Elizabeth Bishop, Gertrude Stein, and Adrienne Rich. Some of Hannah's essays and poems can be found online at Rebelle Society. She holds a BA in Urban Studies from New York University and an MS in Public Health and Human Nutrition from Johns Hopkins University, but she is most proud of her ability to create and maintain nourishing, lifelong friendships.
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