Geomancy
follow the flow of your forehead
how it hovers above each eyebrow
how it anchors all that brain
line up the line of your nose
how it extends down from
between your two outsized eyes
glean from the cut of each cheek
bone as they reflect light
and the bow of your lips
shoulders slope
back dips
and the size of you—each angle
tells me that you are worthy
tells me that openness happens
because of so many closures
that make you.
Hydromancy
Spilt coffee covers the tabletop and stops before flowing onto the floor. See how the pool of brown liquid curves in arcs here and here. See how the edges suggest shores, suggest life, suggest growth. Smell from these waters ancient rites of steeping beans harvested from hills on high, nearer to the skies, waters between the stars, brewed darker than any skin that holds the bean, darker than the night waters. See how the waters collect here denote past lives and future selves, descrying what it means to sit by shores created by a chance meeting of mug’s edge with tabletop. What were the shores like where you grew, or were there shores, or did you, like so many spilled cups of possibilities, make your own shores—
Conduct Unbecoming
Brush up against her
Keep pace with her
Watch the sweat spill from her
Eat mounds of mash potatoes and salad across from her
Share stories of home with her
Change names of lovers with her
Cry when her lover writes their last letter with her
Hold her
Hair when she drinks from the bubbler. Hold her
Hair when she pukes during leave. Hold her
Hair when she wants to see how it would look up. Hold her
Hair when you hug her
Because she’s scared. Hold her
Hand when she’s lonely. Hold her
Hold her
behind combat ready tents
her hand at USO, hidden
her hair, in her cot
She holds you back
DeMisty D. Bellinger is the author of the novel New to Liberty and of the poetry collection Peculiar Heritage, and the forthcoming short story collection All Daughters Are Awesome Everywhere. Her work can be found in various journals and anthologies, in print and online. DeMisty is a creative writing professor in the middle of Massachusetts. She lives at demistybellinger.com.
Image: shixugang, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
