the closet

Terrie Mollohan and Andrew Warfield

i have a skeleton in my closet.
actually, i have several.
i collect them.
my mother,
her mother,
sister,
baby brother...

the closet goes on forever.
and sometimes, when i'm inside,
with the door locked,
i like to run my hands up
and down the long
white femurs, my fingers in and out
the nose holes, and peep
through mother's pelvic arch.

I don't know
what it is
that's out there, really.
other mothers
with knives for fingers
foul kisses
in the halflight...

anyway, it's not like it is
in here, safe and warm
among the household linen
and the bones.

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The 2River View, 1_2 (Winter 1997)