breach
by Matthew E. Henry
God bless the woman floating on a 3’x 3’ pallet of gopher wood. Black and naked and pole fording the lung-deep Mississippi waters surging her home once the primordial levees let loose. once the fountains of The Deep and the windows of heaven were overcome, began snuffing the nostrils of all flesh creeping too slowly upon the earth. a woman with all things arked upon her head:
an oak barrel, a metal basin, a washboard, a suitcase and two steamer trunks, a garden pail, a table, a chair, an old iron, a whisk broom, a whiskey jug, a silver-backed hand mirror, books, a lantern, a length of rope, and surely some twine, needle, thread, the family Bible and photo albums enough to mend the lashes carved into her chest, back, arms, and legs as she pulls toward abatement or Ararat, in 1927 or 2005.
After the Alison Saar sculpture by the same name. Wood, ceiling tin, found trunks, washtubs, and other objects, 2016
Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of six poetry collections, most recently said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the CNF editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor at Rise Up Review. MEH’s poetry and prose has been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, ASP Bulletin, Had, Massachusetts Review, Mayday, Ploughshares, Redivider, Shenandoah, Terrain, Whale Road Review, and The Worcester Review, among others. MEH is a high school educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com and @mehpoeting.bsky.social writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.