Merna Dyer Skinner

Forgotten are the living           who disappear 

       into skyscraper sugar clouds          Eyes perched

above cheekbones      necks searching    for the Sun 

      inside lightning       Autumn’s iron spoons 

dance    shuck and shuffle      the Clapper Fandango 

      stirring      desert silences        into applause 

from    afterlife performers          Praise-sounds 

      echo       from tongues     clattering     inside skulls     

and teeth     chattering          as lipless jaws      shout    

                              Bravo     Brava

Merna Dyer Skinner (she/her) is a poet and communications consultant living in Portland, OR. Her poems have appeared in: Rust + Moth, Lily Poetry Review, Quartet, and The Baltimore Review, among other journals, and three anthologies. Her chapbook, A Brief History of Two Aprons, was published by Finishing Line Press. Merna holds an MA in Communication Studies from Emerson College. She’s lived in six U.S. states, and traveled to six continents.

www.mernadyerskinner.com

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