“from The Sky Forever” [to say your land vanished]

to say your land vanished               into thinness                              scrap under your feet

when the name                                 feels the same in the mouth   who is the most hysterical person

to say I was never meant to            the origin moment                    do you remember laughing

be about poetry’s originating         in childhood trauma                  when the first American boot 

hit the ground in a cloud                of dust maybe before that         you’re killing me   

                                      

                   

 

                    

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2018 Kimberly Alidio. This poem originally appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review. Used with permission of the author.