Taking all my clothes off,
as my therapist reminds me,
is my specialty. Exposed, yes--
as these wild roses that grow
along the shore like crushed velvet,
a skirt washed up and dried
to salty rime—but that doesn’t
mean seen. It doesn’t mean
known. Getting naked fast
is what I do to collapse distance
between myself and any
body that seems to want
to resist me. A falling away:
these shore birds who move
together, then shatter
like a mirror across the blue.
as my therapist reminds me,
is my specialty. Exposed, yes--
as these wild roses that grow
along the shore like crushed velvet,
a skirt washed up and dried
to salty rime—but that doesn’t
mean seen. It doesn’t mean
known. Getting naked fast
is what I do to collapse distance
between myself and any
body that seems to want
to resist me. A falling away:
these shore birds who move
together, then shatter
like a mirror across the blue.
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Keetje Kuipers’ most recent collection of poetry, All Its Charms, includes poems honored by publication in both The Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, American Poetry Review, POETRY, and over a hundred other magazines. Keetje has been a Stegner Fellow, Bread Loaf Fellow, and the Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Resident. She lives with her wife and children in Montana, where she is Editor of Poetry Northwest. Her fourth book, Lonely Women Make Good Lovers, will be published by BOA Editions in spring 2025.
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