Issue 6: Kristin Berger

by Scot Siegel

Inside-Out

I meant

I’d string myself up

to the next passing cloud

one that looks threatening

like it could do damage

could turn this moment inside-out

could reach from the ceiling of someone else’s soul

and touch-down in mine

in that nook that hasn’t seen light

in quite a few years

the place piled thick

with still-alive lichen

sperm-whale teeth

rotting, readable books

maps in Braille –

that gray, littered place –

I’d welcome some stirring up,

a leveling – hold onto

the braid of the past

unraveling in the funnel

try and steer myself

to that calm center

I’ve heard so much about

where you can see all of it –

past, present, future –

whirling around you like barn doors

and bewildered cows,

your promise ring levitating

on its revived chain

the inscription as clear as ink

when I asked you to write me back.

Kristin Berger is a poet and essayist, living life with her family in Portland, Oregon. She is Co-Editor of VoiceCatcher 6 (2011), author of a poetry chapbook For the Willing (Finishing Line Press, 2008), and is a columnist for Sage Cohen’s Writing the Life Poetic Zine. Visit Kristin at www.kristinberger.wordpress.com.

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