Knobby onion, crisped edges a thin scrim around circles that cinch the center seed Matroushka’d deep within. Quiet in water, until white hair a Medusa’s head, tipped and dowsing, tangles its snakes, while thin green legs bean up in pairs as the glass holds their hips, forced. The burst is sudden, a petaled shoe kicking off wafts of civety musk so that heads turn, not knowing from where.
Elline Lipkin is a poet, academic, and nonfiction writer. Her first book, The Errant Thread, was chosen by Eavan Boland for the Kore Press First Book Award. Her second book, Girls’ Studies, was published by Seal Press and explores contemporary girlhood in America. She is currently a Research Scholar with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women and also teaches poetry for Writing Workshops Los Angeles.
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