SOMETIMES the bear boy talks to the ghosts.
The ghost in the yellow house sings and
mends his clothes. The ghost in the blue
house listens while he lists, alphabetically,
each animal in the forest. Sometimes, the
ghost in the white house cries beneath the
lilac bushes when the moon is right. It’s
tough being a ghost, they agree. Always too
many hands, too many voices in the
woodwork. Sometimes, they deliver a cookie
or tangerine on his nightstand. Sometimes,
they leave a perfect rabbits foot.
—
This selection comes from Kristy Bowen’s book the shared properties of water and stars, available from Noctuary Press. Purchase your copy here!
A writer and visual artist, Kristy Bowen is the author of several book, chapbook, and zine projects, including the forthcoming beautiul, sinister (Maverick Duck Press, 2013) and girl show (Black Lawrence, 2013). She lives in Chicago where she runs dancing girl press & studio, devoted to paper-oriented arts and publishing work by women writers/artists.
Andrew Koch’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Bluestem, Connotation Press, Mojo, Rust + Moth, and others. Although a Tennessee-native, Andrew presently lives in Spokane, Washington with his wife and cat while teaching literature and pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University.
