Ransom

His name has the same number of letters as mine.
I didn’t notice this until reading your elaborate cut&paste.

Sometimes I cut my belly and thighs.
Would you trade him for a photo?

I can make each wound look like a little mouth.
I can’t fathom his cravings, or stop them.

You won’t need rape or tape or cable ties.
I meant all the awful things I said right before you took him.

I rarely speak without meaning it.
The blood beats in my face and zings southward.

Was he pushed or did he leap?
Have the boundaries of my goodness ever been truly tested?

I would trade a body for a body.
I didn’t say I would trade mine.




Jill Khoury earned her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous journals, including Sentence, MiPOesias, Harpur Palate, and RHINO. Split This Rock picked her poem “Certain Seams,” as a third place winner in their 2013 poetry contest. She has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net award. Her chapbook Borrowed Bodies was released from Pudding House Press.