Emma Bolden
Psalm of the Unclean
In the center of her trembling I found the hare
furred & frightened by the power of these human
hands.
My neighbor says that when I walk
through the valley of fever I should stop
my self
in its trembling & take instead the hand
of a God who waits for me to believe in him
as the power
that guides me. I tell her thank you. I tell her yes, I do
believe. & I do believe
in the way the hare believes
my hands will & will
not
harm her. Things fall. Apart from the bush
stands its burning. When God speaks
he uses a tongue that licks
cities high & wild with a gold that turns
into ashes, into the language of the lion
whose death invites bees to glory
its skull with honey.
The hare
who clambers up the cliff to find
a higher safety may
find instead the falcon’s claws.
I walk through
the valley where shadow waits
without warning to burst
into birdcall, to rustle
with flame.
Emma Bolden is the author of House Is an Enigma (Southeast Missouri State), medi(t)ations (Noctuary), and Maleficae (GenPop). The recipient of an NEA Fellowship, her work has appeared in The Norton Introduction to Literature, The Best American Poetry, and such journals as the Mississippi Review, The Rumpus, StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, New Madrid, TriQuarterly, Shenandoah, and the Greensboro Review. She serves as associate editor-in-chief for Tupelo Quarterly. Visit her online at emmabolden.com.