from x y z & &

By Pattie McCarthy

witching hour detente                cluster feeding

co-sleeping cluster nursing witching hour

mirror neurons                witching hour colic

derivatives           colicky            adjective

witching hour                colic       cluster detente

a colicky disorder to which she

is too subject witching cluster co—

sleeping           & so fetching       a pretty bird

hex     first a verb in Pennsylvania Dutch

in a c.1250 translation of Exodus, witches is used for the Egyptian

midwives who save the newborn sons of the Hebrews

colic        hour detent       little nursling

a witch has been known to cry out while her husband

places inside her the image of a child.

6 – 7. Samuel Richardson, Clarissa. II. xxxiii. 227 (OED)

9 – 11. Online Etymology Dictionary

13 – 14. Elizabeth Willis, “The Witch.” Address.

next summer I will build my box all over

again     next summer I’d like a big plate

of oysters & the harshest cheapest grappa

you got         next summer if it’s next summer

then I love you next next summer little

warm body little ice cream breath if next

summer         then I’m sleeping in next summer

next summer the sky is divided into windows     (see

listen) see unutterable    next summer

I’ll have some decaf next summer potatoes

au gratin & mashed next summer     potatoes

two ways next  summer is both noun & action

next summer little boys their sticky feet

next summer or I fly my rounds     tempestuous

1 – 2. Matvei Yankelevich, “Next Summer,” Alpha Donut.

14. Lorine Niedecker, “Next Year, or I fly my rounds, Tempestuous.”

the cry of the gulls. the line between water

& grammar. Descartes’ clockwork daughter sinks

& flutters, buzzes like a fridge & swims.

attachment vocalizations

machine noise neutral speech &

silence silence silence silence

counting the moos & woofs & nods as words.

she stretches half the length of me, half-way

through the night. I think, rather, to learn her

language instead. & hexes we have

never heard of.         I think, rather,

to ignore them. I was here the whole time—

her brother says. yes, I think, & you all were —

saint beauty     saint sleep     saint sweet     saint syllable

1 – 2. Rosmarie Waldrop. “Any Single Thing.” Plume.

the blue of larkspur        the blur of larkspur

like wet wool like a rain soaked wool kilt drying

slowly over the course of the day by

occupying desks near warm radiators

until sixth or seventh period

(trigonometry? bio two?) a kind

of animal smell the damp hair

sticks to the back of her neck the fever

breaks & makes this snow smell like this smell not

unpleasant but not conventionally

pleasant like puppy breath it must have

an evolutionary purpose

like I love your morning breath I’ll take

care of you forever       hold her unutterable

1. T.S. Eliot, “Ash-Wednesday.”

14. Rachel Blau DuPlessis, “Draft 2: SHE.”

Pattie McCarthy is the author of four books of poetry from Apogee Press : Marybones, Table Alphabetical of Hard Words, Verso, and bk of (h)rs. A chapbook, scenes from the lives of my parents, is forthcoming from Bloof Books in late 2013. A 2011 Pew Fellow in the Arts, she teaches literature and creative writing at Temple University. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband, Kevin Varrone, and their family.