ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Jill Khoury writes on gender, disability, and embodied identity. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and edits Rogue Agent, a journal that features poetry and art of the body. She has written two chapbooks — Borrowed Bodies (Pudding House, 2009) and Chance Operations (Paper Nautilus, 2016). Her debut full-length collection, Suites for the Modern Dancer, was released in 2016 from Sundress Publications.
chronic lyric ix
o pain:
the wall shivers if you press right here
you want to feel the massive thing
that looks stable but isn’t
but you have no hands so i press for you
you touch my hand to feel shift in lath & plaster
palpitated through flocked wallpaper
i press for you
Ten years ago I was diagnosed with a disorder that causes me to have chronic pain. It has been quite an experience, trying to adjust my way of life to accommodate this new guest. Last year, I started to write a series of lyrics in which pain is a separate entity from my own consciousness, but with whom I share a body. Addressing pain as a newcomer to my body-home has allowed me to both resist and accept this unquantifiable force. Even when I feel like pain has gotten the upper hand, so to speak, these “chronic lyric” poems allow for a transferal of emotional and psychic information between us.
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
