Lisa Marie Brodsky: “The Empty Fiancée”

The Empty Fiancée
(after Olena Kalytiak Davis’ poem, “After Grass and Long Knives”)

Having eating pins before   
she understands a growling stomach.
	
			              Empty is the first item
			              on a bulimic’s shopping list.

For a bride, item #1       is a second thought

Item #2: 	         the titanium ring she found in the river.

Staring at that underwater star, she thinks,

	     It’s time to hunt for men. 

She tells them of the conquests: 
                        rain-slapped, wet, and windy.

A bedroom dressed in hushed questions.

Names held captive in a storm cellar. 

            You’ll never know that part of me

Homecooked dinners steaming on the table.

She writes the words 
           that screw deep 

           heart into bone 	

that sink into a barren stomach.

She invites him inside for the honeymoon,

            language sweating
            foreplay in the afternoon.