This selection, chosen by guest editor Kenli Doss, is from Hush by Nikki Ummel (Belle Point Press 2023).
Altar
We make ourselves anew:
wash each other's bodies
in frankincense and myrrh,
adorn each other's arms
in bracelets of gold.
We are both mortar and pestle.
We grind our bones down
for creation, bury our dust deep,
seeds we water with mouths
of yes. We breathe
deep, roots we grow
with lips
of oh.
We spread palms across
the floor & prepare
to embrace the gods
who, when called,
come.
Nikki Ummel is a queer writer, editor, and educator in New Orleans. Nikki’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, The Georgia Review, and more. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and twice awarded an Academy of American Poets Award. She is the 2022 winner of the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize. You can find her wandering around Holy Cross with her beautiful dog and equally beautiful partner.
Kenli Doss holds a BA in English and a BA in Theatre-Performance from Jacksonville State University. She is a freelance writer and actress based out of Alabama, and she spends her free time painting scenes from nature or writing poetry for her mom. Ken’s works appear in Something Else (a JSU literary arts journal), Bonemilk II by Gutslut Press, Snowflake Magazine, The Shakespeare Project’s Romeo and Juliet Study Guide and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Study Guide, and The White Cresset Arts Journal.
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