Can anyone live with Eartha Kitt?
1
I cannot control who loves me or how
they do. I control
my jaw
its orchestra of bite and spit, if necessary
its holding of a man’s bruised tongue—
I chew.
2
The interviewer exhumes the contents: the funeral,
casket, the man waiting behind the door: suited, bouquet
of sealed lips. The shovel he tells her is for you
to slip inside
you won’t have your name, but you won’t be alone
3
her face opens her laughter spits she calls him a fool her eyes narrowed to the scent of
his sweat she says I cannot choose how I will die but I can choose what will kill me she lifts
her shirt to breathe she lifts her shirt to show him to give him a name for god: her chest
arched open for arrows
a hole she whispers can give a key its purpose
4
Ask the right question
How do you keep warm?
I keep breathing. Listen:
I keep breathing.
by Charleen McClure
I cannot control who loves me or how
they do. I control
my jaw
its orchestra of bite and spit, if necessary
its holding of a man’s bruised tongue—
I chew.
2
The interviewer exhumes the contents: the funeral,
casket, the man waiting behind the door: suited, bouquet
of sealed lips. The shovel he tells her is for you
to slip inside
you won’t have your name, but you won’t be alone
3
her face opens her laughter spits she calls him a fool her eyes narrowed to the scent of
his sweat she says I cannot choose how I will die but I can choose what will kill me she lifts
her shirt to breathe she lifts her shirt to show him to give him a name for god: her chest
arched open for arrows
a hole she whispers can give a key its purpose
4
Ask the right question
How do you keep warm?
I keep breathing. Listen:
I keep breathing.
by Charleen McClure
Charleen McClure is a poet currently residing in New York City. She was born to Jamaican parents in London, England and later immigrated to Atlanta, Georgia. She received her BA in English-Literature from Agnes Scott College and is a Fulbright scholar. Her work has also appeared in Kinfolks Quarterly and African Voices.