after Brigit Pegeen Kelly
morning brown-grey
& the bruises
pooled dark beneath skin
of a peach sliced for breakfast
her hand trembles
& the paring knife
unearths a stone fruit pit
pink & marrowed
a tumor is large like this
& the ache
& the ache constellates
& the cells
& the cells galaxy
inside the lymph node
& the daughter swallows moons
of soft peach slices—:
how they bitter
like dust inside her mouth
Jackie Chicalese is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Arkansas. Her work has appeared in Salt Hill, Noctua Review, Italian Americana, and elsewhere.