The World According to Poetry: Elizabeth Kate Switaj

Gifted, talented, intelligent … and there she goes again: poetry from an estranged world brought in an estranged theater, but oh so good, often oh so familiar … for those among us who ‘enjoy’ an estranged life, I present you the poetry of Elizabeth Kate Switaj … Enjoy!

These Unbroken Bones

for V.

my femurs were femurs

my ulnas ulnae

when that raging blood fed skin

caressed by that love

and when that blood

made subdermal roses

by those hands      were loved

my femurs were femurs

my ulnas ulnae

shapes don’t shift

aches don’t change

except in those inconstant

nervous impulses

that force their way through chakras, spine

until the brain reads them to mind

& even they’re remembered

or in the constant churn of blood

that only blends its red & white

to feed & to remove

what no longer sustains

the muscles tear or pull

towards what the bones desire

or away      while only bones resist

circulation, nerves

that register hands

with warmth that cannot bruise

until every organ sings new love

and still

my femurs are femurs

my ulnas ulnae

sometimes I forget they ache

then it rains like it did that night

On Foot

don’t quote me on your broken knees

don’t paraphrase contusions

stand alone on jagged bones

you earned them after all

when you stood

& spoke

your greensticks into compounds

so tell (your) f[r]act[ure]

let{ter}

by (lett)er

the way you addressed whatever

was so important your forgot

your body

or (could) pretend[ed] to

& couldn’t be as important

as how you live now that you’re not

(standing

Train Sound Triptych

Scotland

train         whistle

insist

s

on loneliness

between the green green green

hills & grey grey grey

stones packed in low walls

that only fence in fleeing sheep

but I am foreign and inside

drunk men drink

& fuck each other

‘s football teams

China

breath                  – of the woman              – next to me

- who is

- a college student         -

trying to speak English – to the only white         – woman

in songs & crush        – of hard seat section      -

- over tracks that groaning -

- their brokenness

- these migrant workers     -

turn their cards        -                           – w/little rustle

{I don’t win}

Japan

This hum of metal across metal

is faint & high

pitch low

where wheels should be

& rain is

never turns to whine

Mommy, look at the gaijin.

Where do you think she’ll get off?

The rustle of pornography.

from Who Escape the Yellow River

Layers & Plates

earth covers earth

sea covers sea

wave covers wave

lapping tossing all built & shaped

toddler to toy

but older  stronger

than all adults

earth covers earth

sea covers sea

concrete covers those who lived

in its caves & beams

shadows & electricity

earth covers earth

sea covers sea

sky covers sky

where storms seem weak

we weak   sometimes sur_ive

First Cicada Death

six legs folded into arms

prayers under abdomen

now facing sky

they’ll never reach

regardless god is yes or no

like perfect sketched wings

stretched on black

clear to pavement

brown shell rests on now

revealing membranes

may not join

wordless crescendos

of buzzing praise & thanks

over aircon

sky cranes

tanks

Red Rock Gorge

Still green holds down red

Still green water

After giving waves

into rock

into once clay

you lean down to what seems calm

you lean to fall

never    see

long green weeds reflected out

to hold you down until

your hair ads branches to the weeds

and you another    never lonely

tourist ghost

Morning in Xinxiang

when I wake up with Jasmine

Tea  the constant change of light

is passing through where I can see

bricks piled on roofs

& flash of name obscured last night

better than strongest Pijiu

White Lightning against

thousand bulbs swapping shades

In Nanyang

boy who jumped into river would’ve led

the whole chain of classmates & friends

up stegosaurus

sneakers on spikes

even if dinosaurs were flesh & fight

instead of paint & cement

that let him live

along with two from rocks

(they leapt

Since receiving her MFA from the now-defunct New College of California Poetics Program in 2004, Elizabeth Kate Switaj has published Magdalene & the Mermaids, Shanghai, and The Broken Sanctuary: Nature Poems. She taught English in Japan and China and wrote copy for an online kimono retailer in Brooklyn. She currently studies James Joyce at Queen’s University Belfast and serves on the editorial board of Gender Across Borders (www.genderacrossborders.com). For more information visit www.elizabethkateswitaj.net