Lawton, OK
Demree McGhee
That great pan handle
of deep fried hope,
where the ground is sticky
with blood, so when you strain to leave
you’ll shoot right back
to where you were born
on a crumbling plain
that goes
on and on and on,
you have nowhere to follow
but on and on and on,
while the church moans
oh oh oh.
Your grandma’s outstretched hands
contain the only source of water
which you can only sip from
it’s the only water left.
All other sources of water, tainted
by all that blood on the ground
that follows you everywhere.
In the hospital,
they take the baby’s footprints with it
just to get it over with
They know
your mother knows
and your grandmother knows
that you’ll drown in this blood,
stuck in the same position
you were in at birth
than when you died with your tongue
dry and sticking
to the back of your teeth.
Demree McGhee is an English student from San Diego. She has poetry and fiction featured or forthcoming in Lucky Jefferson, San Diego Poetry Annual, and Free State Review.