the grass is covered in dew and i am on my knees
and hands;
table top position

i am fingering
the earth with my unmanicured nails, each attached to long, pale
fingers like mom’s Newports snuggled
between her pink lips

i arch my back and tilt my pelvis
back and lift my gaze;
cow pose

my eyes wander
over to man
sitting atop of a stone that describes the way he lived his life as “good.”

i can feel his bulging
eyes track my flowing movements

only a fool would expect to come
to a cemetery for a moment of solitude

my hips go over my head
while my elbows rest on my forearms;
crow pose

my head begins to throb
my legs are quivering
i need to hold this position

i didn’t come
here to leave tight and
unstretched

but alas, before i leave the pose
i see my audience member
and lose my balance

the male gaze is enough to dry
the morning ground

and stillness overcomes me and i lie
with my arms by my side
and my legs closed shut;
corpse pose

Therese Pokorney

 

Therese is a poet and writer from Chicago, Illinois. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Wingless Dreamer’s Heartfelt Poetry Collection, Anti-Heroin Chic magazine, and the Chiron Review. She is a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she studied journalism and psychology.

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