A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAKEDNESS

FLOWER CONROY

In the beginning was clay 
made flesh & tingle, & a tree 
akimbo.  Rosy kernel buds 
& dripping limbs, a glimpse
of petal.  A winged breeze,
breath changed into angel,

rustled the greenest green 
grass, the bride’s muff, 
& the groom’s tuft of chest hair.  
This was nakedness’ first gesture: 
not the legs, the knees 
& elbows of the descending nudes—
but that incarnation betwixt  
branches, halo-less, butterfly 
turned back into a worm.
The rest is core & stone, leaf, sin
I mean skin & bone.

Flower Conroy is the author of three chapbooks, Escape to Nowhere (Rain Mountain Press), The Awful Suicidal Swans (Headmistress Press), and Facts About Snakes & Hearts, which won Heavy Feather Review's chapbook contest. Her poems won Radar Poetry's first annual Coniston Prize, selected by Mary Biddinger. Her poetry is forthcoming/has appeared in American Literary Review, Jai Alia, and other journals.