Communion with Translation

Roseanna Alice Boswell

My father preaches from the belly. All air-sucked conviction. That hiss of certainty.

There is good & there is evil & he has known a little of each. I know every story

of fathers with fathers. How they become better only marginally. Ask any mother

if it is worth it & she will hand you a pomegranate or a twenty for the mall.

Ask me & I will probably deflect or hold out my palm for a token––anything to ferry myself

back to myself. My father preaches from the belly & it is like eating melon

off the rind––he holds his hands open. Offering. If you are paying attention you’ll see

the skin of his palm is peeling.

Roseanna Alice Boswell is a queer poet from Upstate New York. Her work has appeared or will soon appear in: Driftwood Press, Jarfly Magazine, Capulet Magazine, and elsewhere. Roseanna holds an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and is the creator of Bunny Zine Press. She is currently a PhD candidate in English  at Oklahoma State University. Her first collection, Hiding in a Thimble, is forthcoming with Haverthorn Press. Find Roseanna on Twitter @swellbunny posting about feminism and her love of exclamation marks.