Interviews With White

By Katie Menzies

4. once I was spread so thin inside a moment that I almost disappeared I was in the leaky eyes of the soldier in the creases of the mother’s open mouth tilted up towards the teeth of the screaming toddler I was in the glare of the puddle reflecting the square of sky from the door left open

7. I am worn in spring by a tall woman and I am trailing behind her when I am cotton or delicate and mobile but I am also stationary at home along the lines of her body when the sun catches her dress and shows a indigo shadow of her knee

The shakers used to paint my guts all over their straight boxed houses wear me over their ears they were the ones who helped me let go of all my pain showing me how discipline cleans the soul of its mold how the heart can become steel wool

8. I have to wear a cast otherwise my body falls out of itself and ill drift away like a hundred boats in a hundred directions I sleep in the bathtub because it makes me feel like a clam like I have my own porcelain coffin I pretend that I am a lion sleeping under the opal sky of an abalone shell completely sure of my musculature