“Restore” by Patty Paine

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Sounding MachineWhat starts as shadow, fill in.
With mud and moss make
cheekbones, the sudden

curve of neck and its thumb-
pushed hollows.

Imagine knowing yourself
only in the memory of
others. I try each day

to remember you as more
than your dying, more

than collapsing in the chemo
clinic parking lot. After
the funeral no one could stop

me from mopping.
For hours I whipped back and forth

with the hottest water
until your hardwood floors
were swollen and raw.

What can we hope
to do with grief, but work
like a mortician
our finger’s song sure and clean.

–Patty Paine,
The Sounding Machine (2012), Accents Publishing

Patty PainePatty Paine is the author of Feral (Imaginary Friend Press), Elegy & Collapse (Finishing Line Press), and co-editor of Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Poetry (Garnet Publishing & Ithaca Press). Her poems, reviews, and interviews have appeared in Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts, The Atlanta Review, Gulf Stream, The Journal and many other publications. She is the founding editor of Diode Poetry Journal, and is an assistant professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar where she teaches writing and literature, and is assistant director of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

169 thoughts on ““Restore” by Patty Paine”

  168. педагогикалық жобалауды зерттеген ғалымдар

    тау жыныстарын минералдар мен сәйкестендіріңіз, тау жыныстары мен минералдардың қасиеттері әке туралы тақпақ 2 шумақ, әке туралы тақпақтар туған күнге самый выгодный интернет провайдер в казахстане, самый быстрый домашний интернет в казахстане өкпеде газ алмасу процесі қалай жүреді, өкпедегі және ұлпадағы газ алмасу кезеңдері

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  169. сонник снится сырое мясо

    снятся много попугаев клетке что делать если девушке снится что она
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    цитаты про море на английском
    нумерология значение чисел 47 1991 года знак
    гороскопа

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