The elder, I always did what was expected: bent a path
\nthrough the world like long grass with my body paved
\na way out of our father’s kingdom’s perimeter birthed<\/p>\n
a male heir within the year inside the funereal torch-lit
\nbed, under the planetary gaze of an owl scoring a count
\nof talons of the days left into the fragrant headboard<\/p>\n
and, more, I beseeched, I asked for what I needed, then I shed the saffron robes. I bore the black, voluminous were we placed side-by-side, praised for our identical like two wings, two legs swelling into our plural capable of this: keeping a girl-child alive, blood her wound wounds. Shut up deep in the forest, his<\/em>, after what had been done, and boil and season Do not blame the reflection of the face he <\/em>made. her split maidenhead made. Trained by her needle high in the tree, or the one who it is said was half- who hears, lifted by the long muscle of air swelling The elder, I always did what was expected: bent a path through the world like long grass with my body paved a way out of our father’s kingdom’s perimeter birthed a male heir within the year inside the funereal torch-lit bed, under the planetary gaze of an owl scoring a count of talons of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1704,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[57],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-3QR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1704"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14810,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14809\/revisions\/14810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nbelieved when he<\/em>, face lowered, delivered the news
\nof her death at sea, the waves’ swallow of her body.<\/p>\n
\nand liquid as smoke or a squid’s cloud of ink. He <\/em>was still
\nhidden to me. And dear Philomela. How often, as sisters,<\/p>\n
\nbrows, identical size, oneness sounded where we twoed:
\ntwo eyes, two arms ending in two hands boned<\/p>\n
\nhips holding a galaxy of jelly-like eggs, any of which
\nwould split and split and split until a man emerged,<\/p>\n
\nstill dried brown on her thighs and her tongue
\ncut out so every bite that she eats, breath breathes,<\/p>\n
\na hind butchered cut-by-cut, she is kept fresh, alive.
\nHow could I not kill and salt my own son, half<\/p>\n
\nand serve and only after tell him what he eats.
\nDo not blame the knife for the cold of the blade.<\/p>\n
\nUnnatural breeds unnatural; strange breeds
\nstrange. The shit and the dirt floor and dark stain<\/p>\n
\ninto the longest and last of instance his<\/em> name, I do not
\ncall, hidden in the thick stampede of branches<\/p>\n
\nme, but changed as I was changed, feathered
\nand beaked, still voiceless, now another species<\/p>\n
\nthe roofless sky, sky without wall, without lock and door
\nand key. The horizon in the black eye, her without me.<\/p>\nMaggie Queeney<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"