BURNING AWAY THE BLUES
 
The best cure
is to sit bare-assed
on the porch
 
before the reds take over,
before the yellows burn away
the fog from dependable fence lines.
 
As the bottom of your coffee cup rises
wet and shimmery like a full moon in degrees,
learn the secrets of the morning,
and hope the neighbors understand.



MOVING VIOLATION
 
when I read about fire
and settled agrarian societies
I am reminded not to think of you
 
when I drive at night
my fingers find my mouth
 
I go too fast and desire leaves me soft
as the inside of a knee
and unable to grip the wheel


 
VESPERTINE
 
two times
I had to dream of eating sardines
before I could put one in my mouth
 
my hunger has taught me
that desire can be elusive
like puddles of blood
in a room lit by red bulbs
 
last night I dreamed
I was in a wire cage
in the back of an old truck
I was a medium small child
with wild orange hair
and though I sang all the time
no one looked at me
 
 

© Cheryl Hicks

BIO:
 
"I have had prose published in The First Line, Crate, Halfway Down the Stairs, and Southern Hum, and one of my memoirs is to be included in The Remembrance Project at Howard University.  My poems have been published in Ginosko, Urban Spaghetti, Blue Fifth Review, Heliotrope, Makar, Snakeskin, Her Circle, Creative Soup, The Orphan Leaf Review, the delinquent, Autumn Sky Poetry, Silent Actor, Avatar Review, Word Riot, Halfway Down the Stairs, Monkey Kettle, and 103: The Journal of the Image Warehouse.  I have been a featured poet at C/Oasis, am a previous recipient of the Paddock Poetry Award and presented poems from my series titled Conversations with the Virgin at the 2006 Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Conference in Tucson, Arizona.

I currently teach photography and creative writing at the secondary level and am also a visual artist.  My mixed media canvases have been shown across Texas and in New York, and have appeared in Anti- and Creative Soup.  My work is showcased at the Image Warehouse in Athens, Texas."