Murphy Writing of Stockton University Presents
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, an e-mail series that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty.
.
When You Are the Brownest White Girl
by Emari DiGiorgio
Someone will call you spic. And you won’t know what to say
because you’re a Ferrucci-DiGiorgio from the region of Molise
where olives become oil, and there are slurs for your kind, too:
Guinea, WOP, grease ball, so maybe, the sting is being slapped
with another’s epithet. When you’re the brownest white girl
at CCD, no one lets you play the Virgin Mary, even if you
look the most like her and have memorized all the prayers.
When you’re the brownest white girl, you know you need
to run fast, leave their pink tongues flapping. Though you’re
not as dark as the girl who just moved from Queens, or Javi
and Nando, and Keisha and Tasha have made it quite clear
that you’re a white girl, white girl. Though someone tugs
at your kinky hair and says, Mami, you got a little black in you.
And if there was, some big reveal on the Maury show, what
would it change? When you are the brownest white girl
at field day, you’re a piñata and the blindfolded stick swinger.
One minute you use your hands to block their wild swings,
the next, you beg for your turn to beat on someone else.
Origami Woman
by Emari DiGiorgio
One sheet, a fleet of pleats,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxvalley-fold the front flap down
to crease a girl into sixteenths.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxKeep her center stationary,
foot to eyebrow flat. Press lightly.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxShapes traced, fingertip print
foil paper, crepe, vellum crane
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxrising sun inverted, all the things
a woman might become.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSeamstress, scapegoat, socialite,
sweet, sweet songbird, nun,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxharlot (only a fold between the two).
Orient her anatomy, then spread
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxopen the accordion pleats.
Rabbit-ear her arms and wrap
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthe dress even front to back.
Turn her over now. Crimp
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxher neck. Make six reverse folds
on the skirt. For a hummingbird
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthroat, try the petal tuck.
A lady requires more intricate
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxplaits. Round out to taste.
Push in the nape and squeeze-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxfold her legs, note crease
her feet, adjust so she stands.
© Emari DiGiorgio. Published in The American Journal of Poetry, 2019.
++++++++++
The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway and Murphy Writing are programs of Stockton University
++++++++++
Want to study with Emari DiGiorgio? Emari will lead Tuorials in Poetry, Advanced Poetry Workshop sessions and an Algonquin-style Poetry Workshop at the 2020 Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway.
Emari DiGiorgio is the author of Girl Torpedo (Agape, 2018), the winner of the 2017 Numinous Orison, Luminous Origin Literary Award and The Things a Body Might Become (Five Oaks Press, 2017). She’s the recipient of the Elinor Benedict Poetry Prize, the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize and a poetry fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She’s received residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy of the Arts and Rivendell Writers’ Colony. She teaches at Stockton University, is a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Poet and hosts World Above, a monthly reading series in Atlantic City, NJ. Read and listen to her poetry on her website.
Check out her feature on State of the Arts.
++++++++++
Our Participants Say It Best
“In the ten years I have been attending the Getaway, I have grown in both confidence and competence as a poet. This wouldn’t have happened without encouragement to take risks coupled with support. Thank you.”
~ Deborah, Egg Harbor City, NJ
Our Philosophy
Escape the distractions of your busy life. Advance your craft and energize your writing with a challenging and supportive Writing Getaway. Join us at one of our upcoming writing retreats and take advantage of plentiful writing time, insightful feedback, good meals and good company. Get Away to Write.
++++++++++
