Stephen Dickey

Exuviae
 
Exuviae of cicadas, those cracked,
Jettisoned skeletons clutching tree bark—
In each a larva ditched its deadhead host
With spindly legs and bulging eyes intact.
Happening thereon one feels in the dark
About which has the better claim as ghost.

Our words too are collateral husks that clutch
The human cortex, old skeleton keys
To molting wraiths of sense seemingly amassed
Nowhere and everywhere, the very touch
Of thought. We turn in them, as if with ease,
To leapfrog cares and loves, or hold them fast.

Stephen Dickey is a Slavic linguist at the University of Kansas. He has published translations of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian fiction and poetry including Mesa Selimovic’s Death and the Dervish, Borislav Pekic’s How to Quiet a Vampire, and Miljenko Jergovic’s Ruta Tannenbaum. He has published poetry in journals such as Shot Glass Journal, The Lyric, Rat’s Ass Review, Lighten Up Online, Asses of Parnassus, Blue Unicorn and The Road Not Taken.