Jill Khoury

BLIND DATE

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Walking to meet you
I’m an anima mala
dressed in my nerves

and gemlets. Or
one-eyed lamb.

Hard to digest. When
it’s slinging rain, I want

to walk iamb, iamb, iamb
iamb. Not to whirl in

disequilibrium. I want leverage.
Limber harmony. Nimble.

Not to be shy or mired.
To swing my limbs easily—

especially these
lower three:

pale legs, blue
brushstroke veins.

Tap of heels
on pavement,
tap of white cane.

Jill Khoury earned her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals, including Arsenic Lobster, Copper Nickel, Inter|rupture, and Portland Review. She has also been anthologized in Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence. Her chapbook, Borrowed Bodies was released from Pudding House Press. You can find her at jillkhoury.com.