Ami Mattison

Cracked Open

crack open her heart and pour the thickened
liquid in a cup so I might sip on sadness pluck
dandelions from her hair scatter and wish her to the wind
finger the fine bones her inner ear vibrating silence
between us the stubborn bud bulldozed and paved
still finds a way to grow in cracked cemented spaces
push its head upwards towards the sun a single syllable
undone our words are final threads of an ancient quilt
exposed to air shredding there is there is there love
there the sky contracts expands at the whim of clouds
she parts and breaks a storm wets the east the south
the north the west of me I sip half empty her cracked open

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About The Author

Author

Ami Mattison shares co-writing credits and featured performances on Nashville songwriter Ross Falzone's debut CD Radical Heart (Poet People, 2004) as well as his latest album, Life Here on Earth (Falzone, 2007). Nashville Scene described Dyke Verse City Ami's collaboration with indie-rocker Sonia Tetlow and her longtime co-conspirator, the Atlanta-based poet Amanda Kail as a kind of feminist Ramones combining mock-rock anthems with scathing political and social critique Ami has a chapbook, Slug, Mojo, Poetry. She has a Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and has taught undergraduate courses for nearly 15 years. She was as an associate instructor at Emory University and Georgia State University and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Antioch College. She lives in Detroit, Michigan.