Šljivovica

Šljivovica by Celeste Colarič-Gonzales In the native lands    of the ghosts / who formed me / beyond the building  and unbuilding / of bone borders, bloodying / rivers of language / and names  eroding mountains / of faces and dirt, dispersing / across time and space / splintering / a body region / into dozens of / organs, appendages, nations / for all my ancestors lacked / their dirt homed / more ocean-hills of plums / than they could eat / so they drank them / across distinct lands and dialects / they harvested, summer through fall / fermented, through winter / palmed orbs of sunset / mauve-purple, crimson-gold / pulpy flesh falling in plumps / from the knuckle bones and nail-beds / of my ghost’s hands / dripping in red, sour-bitter juice / fingers working small globes / to their stone-cores / each of their parts / a territory divided / made useful    to the whole / seed, skin, and sweet blood / no additive needed / but time   their sacrificial bodies / sufficient / in yeast and sugar / for the wild   of their own / nature Poetry Home Art by GJ Gillespie