Heirlooms
RUNNER UP FOR THE 2021 PINK POETRY PRIZE
“Each line in “Heirlooms” is surprising in imagery and intent, worthy of being saved for posterity in a secret place the way we keep things that are most vital to us safe. At the same time, the poem is full of the kind of difficult history that announces who we are, on the page and in the world. And through that history and the litany of its manifestations that this stunning poem becomes a beautifully imaginative enactment of its title. ”
My forebearers kept secrets like some people keep
money in the mattress, safe until
the house catches fire, until
the hillsides are burning, until the canopy
has turned to ash that falls,
covers the ground, crushes underfoot,
no, not like snow, like ash,
like death. Call it what it is.
When I was born, I was swaddled in
a blanket of secrets. Secrets swirled
into my formula I couldn’t keep down.
Secrets swam like tadpoles in my muddy river veins,
secrets braided like colorful ribbons into my hair. I
brought those secrets to homeroom class. Heaped
onto my plate at dinner
secrets with mashed potatoes on the side, when
the family would gather around the table,
looking ready to fight but simply saying, Pass
the gravy, please. The one with the secret
ingredient, that tastes lightly of
war and burying a child.
The secrets I must believe in
without even knowing what they are
except that they are also mine, that
the eldest child receives as many
secrets in the will as the youngest.
Heirlooms that ask nothing of me
except to keep them forever, jot them
in the margins of my entire life,
to accept them, finally, like faith,
a mantle I throw around my shoulders.
About the author
Arielle Hebert is a queer poet based in Durham, North Carolina. She holds an M.F.A in poetry from North Carolina State University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Nimrod Journal, Willow Springs, Grist, and Redivider, among others. She won the 2020 Claire Keyes Poetry Prize judged by Erika Meitner and the 2019 North Carolina State University Poetry Contest judged by Ada Limón. Arielle believes in ghosts and magic. www.ariellehebert.com