Inside Out (by Jennifer Hambrick)

Inside Out

Peel off that skin
that doesn’t fit, has never fit.

Take that skin to a tailor,
who will prick it with pins
to suit your shape and size.

Wash that skin in the machine,
on the “delicate” cycle,
where warm water will tease away
its tautness.

Hang your skin on a clothesline
so the sun can kiss it dry.

Smooth from your
muscles and bones
the protruding angles of the past –
piercing blades of loss,
shards of bitter words –
and place them in a box.

Then let your skin glide
over smooth dunes of flesh,
embracing, like a fine silk stocking,
every assured step.




* * * * *

“Inside Out” comes from Unscathed, recently published by NightBallet Press.

Jennifer Hambrick ‘s first chapbook of poems, Unscathed, has been lauded for its “crystalline, poignant images” and for its “fresh palette of questions, longings and unadulterated class.” Jennifer’s poetry has also been published in Pudding Magazine, WestWard Quarterly, A Narrow Fellow, Common Threads, the 2013 Ohio Poetry Association anthology Everything Stops and Listens, the Columbus Creative Cooperative’s Ides of March anthology, and the Ohio Poetry Day Best of 2011 prizewinners’ collection. Jennifer won the Ohio Poetry Association’s 2013 Ides of March contest, was a prizewinner in The Poetry Forum’s 2011 William Redding Memorial Poetry Contest, and received multiple recognitions in the 2011 Ohio Poetry Day contests. She enjoys a lively schedule of featured poetry readings around Ohio. By day, Jennifer Hambrick is a classical musician and public radio broadcaster, producer, and blogger.

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No title here (by Jennifer Hambrick)

No title here

and nope, no poem either.
There is nothing left to say.
You don’t want to hear
about my garden
even when it’s
tarted up in bloom
legs wide open
fruit dangling everywhere.
You would leave the room
if I told you I am how I am
because Momma collected black eyes
the way a high-priced whore
collects prescriptions.
I am going through
a Samuel Beckett phase
waiting for Godot
to toss me a few fresh ideas.
I am going through
an Emily Dickinson phase
hoping the thing with feathers
will tickle loose a decent
turn of phrase.
I channel the spirit
of Billy Collins so he’ll
rub dry wit across this page
as though seasoning steak
for the grill.
Inspiration is as flimsy as
wind-whipped skivvies
on the neighbor’s clothesline.
The well of poetic product
is empty to me.
I find a hole to slither into
close my legs
and hide my burgeoning
blackberry brambles
from view.



* * * * *

Jennifer Hambrick ‘s first chapbook of poems, Unscathed, was recently published by NightBallet Press and has been lauded for its “crystalline, poignant images” and for its “fresh palette of questions, longings and unadulterated class.” Jennifer’s poetry has also been published in Pudding Magazine, WestWard Quarterly, A Narrow Fellow, Common Threads, the 2013 Ohio Poetry Association anthology Everything Stops and Listens, the Columbus Creative Cooperative’s Ides of March anthology, and the Ohio Poetry Day Best of 2011 prizewinners’ collection. Jennifer won the Ohio Poetry Association’s 2013 Ides of March contest, was a prizewinner in The Poetry Forum’s 2011 William Redding Memorial Poetry Contest, and received multiple recognitions in the 2011 Ohio Poetry Day contests. She enjoys a lively schedule of featured poetry readings around Ohio. By day, Jennifer Hambrick is a classical musician and public radio broadcaster, producer, and blogger.