PAST CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: DANIELLE COONEY, “MY CATULLUS, WELL, HE STILL THINKS ABOUT ME”

My Catullus, well, he still thinks about me

Miserable woman! It is just the wind.
In the morning maybe there will be fewer
loaves of bread in your ice box & sweet coffee
will be your thing again.

Float notes down downwind to all the Catullies
who might have tried to rid themselves of you &
remind them of your mostly miserable
qualities. If that isn’t enough woman
tell them you’ve showered recently tell them you
have learned to tie your shoes in a way that’s much
sexier than the way your brother taught you
in kindergarten.

Miserable woman, paint deadened coral
on all four of your window panes. Paste on
leaves from the maple tree in your family’s yard
—the one with the ghosts of woodpeckers you
failed to keep alive. Imagine the thin skin
translucent sac for a belly with blue gray
organs & cover your light bulbs with a
similar film.

Miserable woman, you’ve got it now!
Keep an eye on the door you nailed shut. Woman
warm the spackle with your naked body, see—
it spreads more easily—seal the gaps. Miserable
woman             sing into the fire

wish your friends well wish them
in the fire a well of fire wish them
a key that opens nothing sea shells with no
ocean in them umbrellas with decorative
tears & thank them for adorning your mantle.

Miserable woman, how lovely you’ve done.

Danielle Cooney graduated recently from the MFA program at the University of Montana where she studied cross-genre writing and taught poetry. She was lead coordinator for Second Wind Reading Series, worked as Poetry Editor and Social Media Coordinator for CutBank Literary Magazine, and was Co-coordinator of the Montana Book Festival volunteer effort, among other things. She is a 2019-2020 Ridge Scholar for the Institute of Health and Humanities, and her poetry has appeared in Persona andthe inaugural issue of The Journal for Latina Critical Feminism.