Poetry

Emily Browne

Children of the Desert

gather to see the bones that spell
out met-a-mor-pho-sis

vertebrae drifting in
single file stars one hundred

and two feet
down

strewn across the bottom of
a dried-up well

the blonde boy
without history names dead

stars in the order
of their collapse

what songs there are
are of deserts

sand wind erosion scattering
scorpions glowing midnight

one half-life decomposes into
thumbprints of rain

he says
being isn’t all bodies

visible
or deserted

nearby aftermath
the blonde boy will overdose on heroin

show the kiddies how to
& bones again

Emily Browne is a poet in the M.F.A. program and an adjunct lecturer in the English Department at Brooklyn College. In her writing, she aims to communicate emotions revolving around death, grief, and spirituality through Californian landscapes and biota.