Kim Parko: They Wanted My

 They wanted          my

Tap

Root

           to drought

to dig up

from soil

           to lay atop

     the dry

layer

                 My

hairy bulb

thirsting

for the sub-

terrain

They wanted          my

Fissures

The tremors

 of my plates

             separating

And I gave them     

 that

Took the space           between        sadness

and widened

Gave them

gaps

between

what made

me

 They wanted          my

Mouth

The deepness of it            the way it led

to my stomach

and

they said

      Her throat like a snake

     Now

they feed my children

apples

laced

with cancer

They wanted         my

Birds

All of them

       perched

on slim

lines         above

traffic

And

they wanted my bird’s

egg shells

thin

around

the embryo

an insurmountable

weakness

from the beginning

---

Kim Parko is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Santa Fe, NM. Moving between poetry, fiction, installation, performance and social engagement, Kim’s work reveres permeable states of being and makes space outside of the patriarchal status/static quo. Whether textual, visual, or ethereal, her creations embrace interconnection and fluidity, intentionally blurring boundaries.

Kim is the author of two books: a novel, The Grotesque Child (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2016) and Cure All (Caketrain Press, 2010), a work of poetic fictions. Her poetry and fiction have been published broadly, both in print and online. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and is an associate professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is a mother, a wife, a maker, a hedge witch and a healer.