“The wound….occurred suddenly, invisibly; it
came out of nowhere.” Rooms in the woods
help you prepare to hold it together for whatever
comes from off center.
Mewling of goats, villagers crying in their language for
water. The chest opening call
to pray de-
leafs, snapping
you when missiles
follow. If your body
is an animal, talk to it
your trembling away.
Nomi Stone
Nomi Stone is the author of the poetry collection Stranger’s Notebook (TriQuarterly, 2008), an MFA Candidate in Poetry at Warren Wilson and a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at Columbia. Poems appear or are forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Memorious, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish Poetry, at The Poetry Foundation, and elsewhere. She is currently researching and writing Kill Class, a book of poetry based on two years of fieldwork within combat simulations in mock Middle Eastern villages erected by the US military across America.