Lineage

Lineage is your dominant arm bent backwards
when you are trying to eat soup; or someone
sitting before you, spooning kidney beans
into your mouth, gently wiping your dribble; or
it’s tomato soup, heirloom in summer, golden like
the sun, plump, greenhouse grown without
any pesticides; the way the knife glides smooth
through its fruit. It’s old wars escaped by foot
through a dense swamp with only the clothes on
your back; the one soldier who looked the other
way while you ran as fast as you could; it’s your
fear of snakes; the way you know how to flavor
the goulash.

 

 

Jennifer Lothrigel is a poet and artist in the San Francisco Bay area. She is the author of a chapbook titled Pneuma, published last year by Liquid Light Press. Her work has also been published in Arcturus, Rag Queen Periodical, Bitter Zoet, and Suisun Valley Review, amongst others. Find her on twitter @JLothrigel and instagram @PartingMists.