Joan Larkin
FRESCO

to Cimabue

I want to be that featureless dove

tucked in the saint’s armpit.

I want to nest where his hand

presses me to the rough cloth

as his round wound looks out.

I want to be that radiant

shape—bird only if you

step back to see me better.

His hands and feet want

to be birds, too. They bow

from sleeves and hem,

each with its dark seed,

its bloodied coin, its dove’s eye

open in sleep, watching.

Joan Larkin’s books include Blue Hanuman and My Body: New and Selected Poems, both from Hanging Loose Press. Her honors include the Shelley Memorial Award and the Academy of American Poets Fellowship. She lives in Tucson, Arizona. Author photo by John Masterson.

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #25.