A Poem by Kelley White

Too late

 

you call

you remember a body

twenty-two years old

no visible scars

 

and I’d give you my heart

but in lives in a sausage

stuffed with anger and sewn

with despair

 

like a pit bull pup

it nuzzles and wheezes

for a hand on the muzzle

a pat on the back

 

you see

its hope-ugly visage

suspect the danger:

this one

might bite back

 

 

 

Pediatrician Kelley White worked in inner-city Philadelphia and now works in rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in journals including Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA.  Her most recent books are TOXIC ENVIRONMENT (Boston Poet Press) and TWO BIRDS IN FLAME (Beech River Books.) She received a 2008 PCA grant.