“Warm Month Horse Mourn,” “Six Weeks” & “For God”
by Kateri Whitfield
Warm Month Horse Mourn
Lately have you seen
the horse made of snow?
Is a horse made of snow
a horse?
Is she here?
How do your tears
grow so slowly?
Where does she go
in the warm months?
Six Weeks
The pregnancy test in my pocket
Is riding my bicycle. Is riding
my child’s father’s bicycle.
Is pit without plum. Is the time
I watched him make a mess
in the sand on the beach, then bury it.
Is the times I walked to water.
Is the times I rolled down hills of grass.
Is the times. Is going up up up up
Is my growing belly. Is positive.
Is falling out of my pocket
down the gutter into the sewer.
Boiling like a pig.
Pig rolling sacred.
Fear of abandonment.
For God
Alb Ambo Echo Tongue-out
Don’t drink the water
King or priest the boss
Liturgical abuse
Pentecost
Behead me please
For God
Hobby: to suffer
Stand up Sit down
Kneel
To Frank’s pets
Tony’s findings
Tekakwitha’s lily
A nickel near the tabernacle
A quarter in the thurible
To be burned at the stake
Hour of the Angelus
To choke on a fish bone
Behead me please
O clemens O pia
O dulcis
Virgo Maria
Kateri Whitfield is a creative writing and mathematics student at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been published in Forces and is upcoming in Hothouse. Find her on Instagram at @youdonotdo.
Faye Orlove is an artist and activist living in Los Angeles. In 2015, she founded Junior High — a non-profit community space for marginalized artists — and in 2020 it closed due to a violently mismanaged and traumatic handling of the Coronavirus. In 2021, Junior High will reopen, Faye will get married, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians will come to a bitter end. Follow her @fayeorlove for mostly pictures of cats!
