The Dead Teach Me Grounding Techniques
Put a pebble in your shoe. Slit the deer.
Open the gate to the mountains. The asphalt
has begun to pray. Snap a rubber band
around the wrist. Bite the rind. Strip
needles from the pine. Swaddle the wolf.
Place your palm above the flame. Inside
the light. To not go. Swallow the squid
whole. Flagellate. Open the door
to the river. Paint your nipples chartreuse.
Squint until the headstones blur. Step
on a lightbulb. Worry the stone.
Rub in the stain. To remain. Psalm.
Open the hatch to the sea. Scald
a thumbnail. Be still. Let the bee sting.
O clap your hands. Gnash incisors. Bury
your face in fur. Be not far from me.
From Lapis (Wesleyan University Press, 2024) by Kerri Webster. Copyright © 2024 Kerri Webster. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Kerri Webster
Kerri Webster received her BA from Boise State University and her MFA from Indiana University. She is the author of four poetry collections: Lapis (Wesleyan University Press, 2022); The Trailhead (Wesleyan University Press, 2018); Grand & Arsenal (University of Iowa Press, 2012); and We Do Not Eat Our Hearts Alone (University of Georgia Press, 2005).