Judy Halebsky
Bio:
Judy Halebsky is the author of the poetry collections Sky=Empty (New Issues, 2010), Tree Line (New Issues, 2014) and most recently, Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged) (University of Arkansas Press, 2020) which was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Her chapbook Space/Gap/Interval/Distance (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2012) won the Poets-Under-Forty award. Fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony, and the Canada Council for the Arts have supported her work.
June Night with Mars
First slight red of dawn, a rooster, then a flock of birds
chiming. dark brown with sun, my fingertips like pokka
dots. the woman next door with rope climbing arms
offers chocolate as medicine, a need that can be bottled
and filled. here we say break a leg with: in the mouth of the
wolf. I whisper: death to the wolf. put my hand to my chest
to feel the vibration. get my ticket and sit in the front
row, eyes closed. strangers are among my closest friends.
Birds live in c ities, travel in flocks, land in the same tree.
American Sonnet, Unwritten
(invisible ink that will not appear if submerged in water) (or
translated into steam) (or held up to the sun) (sorry)
(true story) (— the opposite of truth is not a lie) (the
opposite of truth is forgetting) (a description of colonialism)
(or how we forget what happened on this land) (who
happened or who did what or who owned what or who owned
whom) (unforgetting is a process) (work on it) (start
now) (sleep later) (when you are dead) (or passed out from
exhaustion) (the preacher says if you can’t be on the frontlines of the
struggle) (there are people who have been on the
frontlines for twenty, thirty years) (they are tired) (if you
can’t be on the frontlines) (hold up someone who is) (let them
rest) (this is a way of unforgetting) (unrealized, ignored)
(unceded land) (the unforgetting) (hold them) (or walk with
them) (or say their name)
Paper Body
A pattern is printed on tissue paperdotted lines mark where to cut the cloth
between here and my grandmother
of the many skills I have lost ⎯how to pierce another set of lines to differentiate the lived body from the paper bodystitch line and salvage
⎯ her voice saying, you’ll need more cloth
Pastor McBride at the podium says,we’ve armed ourselves like an army
as soon as he went missingthey started a search⎯
procession between chapel and grave
they found his car parked at the side of the road gun case open on the passenger seat
later they found his band uniform washed and hung in his locker
a pattern is printed on tissue paperdotted lines mark where to cut the cloth
caliber — the weight and diameter of a bullet
which travels faster than the speed of sound
between here and my grandmother
you’ll need more cloth
there are things we don’t hear until after
between here and my grandmother
of the many skills I have lost ⎯how to pierce another set of lines to differentiate the lived body from the paper bodystitch line and salvage
⎯ her voice saying, you’ll need more cloth
Pastor McBride at the podium says,we’ve armed ourselves like an army
as soon as he went missingthey started a search⎯
procession between chapel and grave
they found his car parked at the side of the road gun case open on the passenger seat
later they found his band uniform washed and hung in his locker
a pattern is printed on tissue paperdotted lines mark where to cut the cloth
caliber — the weight and diameter of a bullet
which travels faster than the speed of sound
between here and my grandmother
you’ll need more cloth
there are things we don’t hear until after
Guidelines for Mating Season
— After Elna Baker
Watch your line (not the train) (the line of your body)
of high heels, he says, I thought you guyswould have gotten rid of those years ago (guys means women) (meaning he is entirely not involved)
after losing a hundred pounds, the girl on the radio got a job and a boyfriend
it is not possible to overdo Zumba
to hear Hijikata tell it, when he dances the voices of the dead come back to life through his body
at minus a hundred pounds and now married, she says I doubt that he loves the real me
you will be asked to remain silent, to run downhill in a bikini, to catch fireflies with your handsto steer across a lake in the dark
there will be a release form (it is not meant to protect you)
Hijikata would fast for days before going onstage (covered in ash) (sinewy arms, veins, collarbone, eyes crazed)
she says, we don’t admit how much of love is actually physical
Watch your line (not the train) (the line of your body)
of high heels, he says, I thought you guyswould have gotten rid of those years ago (guys means women) (meaning he is entirely not involved)
after losing a hundred pounds, the girl on the radio got a job and a boyfriend
it is not possible to overdo Zumba
to hear Hijikata tell it, when he dances the voices of the dead come back to life through his body
at minus a hundred pounds and now married, she says I doubt that he loves the real me
you will be asked to remain silent, to run downhill in a bikini, to catch fireflies with your handsto steer across a lake in the dark
there will be a release form (it is not meant to protect you)
Hijikata would fast for days before going onstage (covered in ash) (sinewy arms, veins, collarbone, eyes crazed)
she says, we don’t admit how much of love is actually physical
Emily Post’s Advice to Painter Grace Hudson at 23
“You are two girls, away from home alone, and ought not receive gent’s company too much.” —a letter to Grace and her sister from their father
Your father wants you in by 9:30 pmwhat he means is to keep up appearances
art is often misunderstood so nod politely, then repeat your main point
imagine the forest as your bodythe fog coming up Market street as your airwhat matters is to love fiercely
respond to a letter within a daywrite in a flurry as though you are talking, flutteringone wing beat gust to another
of the divorce, rememberpeople know what you tell them
Your father wants you in by 9:30 pmwhat he means is to keep up appearances
art is often misunderstood so nod politely, then repeat your main point
imagine the forest as your bodythe fog coming up Market street as your airwhat matters is to love fiercely
respond to a letter within a daywrite in a flurry as though you are talking, flutteringone wing beat gust to another
of the divorce, rememberpeople know what you tell them
