Apr 9

Apr 9 POETRY : AMISS / Christine No

LISTEN UP _ CHRISTINE NO _ AMISS - HEADER.png

Christine No–one of our very favorite people here at The Racket–is releasing a new book from Barrelhouse Press sometime in the near future. And if you’ve read or heard Christine No’s poetry, you know it is going to be an absolute delight. No is true genius at imagery and emotion and every one of her poems manages to scrape the deep feels from our insides.

If you haven’t heard her read, well, here’s your chance. “AMISS”–from Christine’s upcoming collection–is such a beautiful spree of descriptions and No’s reading brings them to life with the exact amount of sadness and warmth.

“AMISS”
by Christine No

I am first thing in the morning.
I am halved by bedtime.
I am five pills a day.

I am your breath, caught.
I am choke and sputter.
I am the lump in your throat.

I am summer’s last tomatoes,
jewels on a dying vine.
I am a final offering.
I am no next time.

I am the swath of birds aloft.
I am the congregation startled.
I am the cow on your sidewalk
at breakfast.
I am the milk carton, appalled.

I am a serial monogamist.
I am the lure of house and home.
I’ve thrown out the urge to settle down.

Months since we’ve moved apart—
Missing since the holidays—
I am still amiss.
I am the nape of your neck,
someone else’s morning altar.

I am too small to mind the gap.
I am harmful if swallowed.
I am a fracture left untreated.

I am bruise.
I am ghost.
I am disappearing.

I am cigarettes, your bad habit
leftover.

I am the drag and pull.
I am the ragged breath.