Keepers (1)

By: Stephanie Burt
July 20, 2016

One in a series republishing 10 poems — about everyday objects and pop culture avatars — by HiLobrow friend and contributor Steph Burt.

SELF-PORTRAIT AS KITTY PRYDE

I have been identified
as gifted & dangerous. People fight
      over me
but not in the ways I want. Who would
      expect
it in a girl from Deerfield, Illinois,
town of strict zoning, no neon & quality
      schools?
I pass through difficult physical laws,
      cement,
flames, cupboards, crowds, tree trunks
      & arguments,
precociously, like something to protect.
I am always going through some phase.

My best friend spent apprentice years
alone inside a study like a star.
My wide eyes & Jewish hair
are shyness, a challenge to artists, &
untouchable. I can slip out of the back of
a car.
When I am tired I dance, or pace
barefoot on the civilian ground
of Salem Center, where rain falls
through me.
I have begun to learn to walk on air.

Adventures overemphasize my age.
In my distant & plausible future I will bear
one child, scorn, twenty-five pounds
of technology on my back, & the further
      weight
of giving orders to a restless band
of misfits who save America from its
      own rage
but cannot save themselves, & stay up late.
My friends & the fate of the world will have
      come to rest,
unexpected, staccato, in my sophomore
      hands.

***

ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES

STEPH BURT at HILOBROW: KEEPERS (10 poems) | GENO (EPIC WINS series) | NO KILL I (KIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM series) | ENTANGLEMENT (HERMENAUTIC TAROT series) | HAPPY BIRTHDAY (QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM series).

Keepers (1)

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