I.
Tess marks time with her daughter’s body:
bones grow in cadence to the hourglass
slip of sand grains
after n overcast beach day
Tess rinses soap suds and
Sarasota sugar sand
from her daughter’s skin
Elah: the valley where David slay Goliath עמק האלה Emek HaElah
named for overcoming for the slaughter of giants
Elah’s hair tickles kneecaps
swishes like a skirt
Tess braids her daughter’s hair every morning
lays hands on every inch
of coarse curl then ropes
the thick braid around her daughter’s waist
she tethers Elah to her five-year-old body
as old as Tess’ father is dead
as he withered & scabbed
on a worn futon cushion
Elah grew strong in the womb
Tess prayed for the strength
to raise her אֶ֙בֶן eben stone of help
take aim at her גָּלְיָת
Golyath
II.
She bore Elah in mourning in a black maternity dress
finger-painted her daughter with afterbirth
forced her to bear witness as גָּלְיָת Golyath the revealer
giant who uncovers
lingered in the corner
Grief stitched itself
into pituitary
coaxed forth
a manic rush of HGH
Elah is large for her age the x-ray
reveals a skeleton two years too old
עֶצֶם etsem bones/substance/self
too big for her body
Elah is five her skeleton is seven a cage fit to burst
her ribs bars of iron her bones of bronze
Tess stuffs her own mouth with fig leaves
until she chokes on תִּפְאַרְתֶּֽךָ׃ tipharah Glory Be
Glory Be Glory Be
Nikki Ummel is a queer writer, editor, and educator in New Orleans. Nikki has been published or is forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Adroit, Hobart, 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 currently the Associate Poetry Editor for Bayou Magazine and co-curator of the Gold Room reading series. You can find her on the web at www.nikkiummel.com.
