Rebecca Kaiser Gibson
author of a poetry collection and two chapbooks; former professor at Tufts University; recipient of Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a Fullbright Fellowship; former resident of MacDowell Colony and The Heinrich Boll Cottage in Ireland; her work has appeared in Agni, Field, Greensboro Review, Harvard Review, Ocean State Review, Salamander, Slate, Taos Journal of Poetry, Tupelo Quarterly, and others
OPINEL
Knife of peasants,
alpinists, artists. Thick
bladed to scrape leather,
carve cheese, untangle vine,
release trapped lambs, hack
out ice, slice flesh.
The real
ones, carbon, sharpened,
oiled, darken in a man’s hip pocket,
fit the palm perfectly,
snap open when he knocks.
Likewise, horsemeat,
scrawny rabbits, small boned, gray,
for sale, without shame
dressed in fur, ready for him
to skin them into stew.
He’s brought pear wine,
unlabeled, illegal,
bows in courtly folds,
prying, savoring.
from OPINEL by Rebecca Kaiser Gibson (Bauhan Publishing)
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