Kathleen Hellen
Kathleen Hellen is the recipient of the James Still Award, the Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred, and prizes from the H.O.W. Journal and Washington Square Review. Her debut collection Umberto’s Night won the poetry prize from Washington Writers’ Publishing House. She is the author of The Only Country Was the Color of My Skin, Meet Me at the Bottom, and two chapbooks.
when you were eternal
A hoot, you’d said, tipsy on occasion.
You smothered when you hugged.
Laughed too much. I remembered
the carnations: deep red and purple
for remembrance (I’d read).
And Jesus, his sacred heart a flame,
burning through the ghost of you,
searing stems. I remembered:
In spots where Mary’s tears fell
to earth, the first carnations grew
(they said). I remembered:
the piss pot by your bed.
I don’t remember crying
