you are cooperative
you are educated
sing arias at home
you nod meaning
yes and lift up your
shirt to show the
center of your torso
is as hairless and
innocent as the day
you were born
which of course you
do not remember
but at this point
the air and warm
light that touches
your inspected and
guaranteed to be
unthreatening flesh
turns you into an
infant who is glad
the mother from
whose stomach he
sprang is no longer
among the living
and cannot witness
or ease his shame.
Fred Marchant is the author of five books of poetry, the most recent of which is Said Not Said (Graywolf Press). Marchant is also the editor of Another World Instead (Graywolf), a selection of early poems by William Stafford. He is co-editor with Jennifer Barber and Jessica Greenbaum of Tree Lines (Grayson Press), an anthology of contemporary American poems focused on trees and forests. His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, including the Braving the Body (Small Harbor Publishing)), poems about illness and resilience. A co-translator (with Nguyen Ba Chung) of several contemporary Vietnamese poets, Marchant lives in Arlington, MA.
