Francine Learns How to Open His Heart with Her Teeth
poem by Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick
Francine counts the times she disbelieves herself and says she’s sorry. Francine believes her body should be praised. Somewhere I’m a river, she writes. St. Gabriel is inside me. Francine counts I’m sorry’s before bed. I wrap them in blankets, she writes, then send them down the river. St Gabriel praises me at night. Francine counts the times she disbelieves herself. I say I’m sorry to my body, she writes, I say it should be praised. I say one day the flood will come.