Tammy Robacker

Another Girl Goes Down

 

Into  a  ditch.  Maybe  she hit
a   rock.  Maybe  she  did  not
pay  close  attention.  Maybe
she’s   only   twelve   whereas
threat  is  an  f-10.  American
truck  with  a large bed. Used
to  haul  things   like   lumber.
Dogs.   Men.   Men  who   ride
wild   in   mongrel  packs  and
play  air  guitar  or  smoke up
their   cigarettes.    Men   who
know   how    to    disintegrate
the    world     from    a     Ford
window.   Their   ashtray.    A
dump   site    shoveled   down
deep  just  for  them  and  the
ground  opened  just  for  her.

 

 

Packing List for the Damaged

 

she-wolf eyes
snake pupils
ear of lynx

kodiak paws
roach thorax
can of kerosene

tail of newt
spare wishbone
panther claws

bottle of bitters
lithium
tiger balm

schmear of snail
rabbit foot
bull’s heartbeat

stretch of tentacle
tortoise shell
wild monkey screech

 

 

Tammy Robacker is a Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence award winner (2011) and TAIP grant recipient (2009). Her chapbook, Cuttings, won the 2015 Keystone Chapbook Prize from Seven Kitchens Press. Tammy published her first collection of poetry, The Vicissitudes, in 2009 (Pearle Publications). Tammy’s poetry has appeared in Menacing Hedge, Chiron Review, VoiceCatcher, Duende, Crab Creek Review, WomenArts, and Synesthesia. Currently enrolled in the RWW MFA program in Creative Writing at Pacific Lutheran University, Tammy lives in Oregon. Her second poetry book Villain Songs is forthcoming with ELJ Publications in 2016.

 

 

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