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Bone Woman

Carrie Lorig

I.
Sensing Bone Woman is near,
magnolias open their mouths wide.

She cleans their back teeth
of jammed
hummingbird.

Her back is a rock she polishes with salt
water in the sink.

She eats seeds.
They grow into bigger fruit bones,
knuckled fists in her belly.


II.
Through the door, darkness
falls. The cabin pressure causes
his jacket to unzip and he spills everywhere.

Bone Woman sees her knife and grabs.
She says to the darkness,
knife licking her arm lightly,

“Sometimes the skin grows back
while you are here.”


III.
Boys notice Bone Woman
palming watermelon seeds
near picnic tables.

Vines mistake her
for fence
and move closer.

Boys mistake her
for a naked woman,
and move away, disappointed.