To Celebrate the Empty Tomb Nothing Sweet

Joan Houlihan Constructing Easter A number of lunar months, a fatherly apparatus of nailed-in gold; gall on a stick, bottled soul. Rosaries greased with whatever your fingers have rolled. The armholes pinch and the brace of a hat is pincered, unkind on the scalp. From this comes longevity, gratitude. Serious music and unwanted food. Can someone protect us from moldering? From the indwelling organs' revolt? From a sibling's toenails and teeth encapsuled inside a crust? All the amber fossils are fallen to private hands. The marrow for our species can't regrow. Let's join the new-coated coffle as they shuffle the path to Rome or go home and paint another egg. Sip from a caudle. Warm by a candle. Worship the fertile rabbit, and alone. Joan Houlihan 's publications include The Gettysburg Review, Fine Madness, Black Warrior Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Marlboro Review, and Poetry International, among others. She is editor in chief of Perihelion and senior poetry editor of Del Sol Review, both published at www.webdelsol.com. Her chapbook, Our New and Smaller Lives, published by Black Warrior Review, can be viewed on Warrior Web. She also writes a column called The Boston Comment which deals with issues related to contemporary American poetry.