SKELETON

Deborah Landau

Spooky! Everyone under their faces seems to be

kaput   know what I mean?

Excessive sprawl of generations emptying onward

labile, fleeting       then that’s it forever, bang.

Eager to stay, I take the kale and kombucha

toting a calamitous hairdo and wrecked face as

onward we sublimate (bones, bones, bones)

never again veiled in skin.

Deborah Landau is the author of five books, including Skeletons. She is a professor and director of the NYU Creative Writing Program.
Originally published:
September 1, 2022

Featured

The Shapes of Grief

Witnessing the unbearable
Christina Sharpe

Writing in Pictures

Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature
Chris Ware

Garth Greenwell

The novelist on writing about the body in crisis
Meghan O’Rourke

You Might Also Like

SKELETON

Deborah Landau

SKELETON

Deborah Landau


Subscribe

New perspectives, enduring writing. Join a conversation 200 years in the making. Subscribe to our print journal and receive four beautiful issues per year.
Subscribe