Sarah Katz

OPEN AND OPEN

Listen to the audio version.

Dear brother,
I want the truth in the amber

bottle, empty, beside you. The vomit
that sealed your lips.

The abundance of you and your addiction,
and the decay. I want you open

to a wholeness between us.
Not this fissure. Not this blank country

shorn of what is true. I want
the weight of your truth

to arrive the way that bright summer
afternoon and its black SUV

pinned me to asphalt,
opening fresh holes in my body.

Brother, the body’s only promise
is that it will open—

so much depends on this openness.
The wholeness of what is broken.

Sarah Katz's work has most recently appeared in several "R"-named publications (by chance), including Redivider, Rhino, Right Hand Pointing, and Rogue Agent. She earned her MFA at American University in DC, and currently works at a new independent bookstore in Northern Virginia. She is Managing Editor of Poet Lore and Poetry Editor at The Deaf Poets Society.