Emma Murf

Appalachia Talk

if you watch  Appalachia
talk, it talks               tight 

laced-up    vocal  chords
with a tongue-tied   knot
at the tip, it all  happens
without the lips     giving
anything away,         as if
to   say     we don’t    talk
       with our mouths  full. 

grandma  would  rebuke
with two-note hum,   lips
unparted, like ambulance
come   round    a  corner
                          M-mmm 

so some nights, I  curl the
loose walrus of my tongue
lips         spattering     spit,  
unbecoming    and young
I try on her                voice
                    in the shower

how her   Irish-capped R’s
come down    hard   in the
mouth,  barge into sounds
tight-spinning  like clothes
in the   warsh.  I can never
say                 little enough 

and I wonder      at the line
where    privacy  becomes
omission       or some form
of    distant
                      ventriloquism

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Emma Murf is a poet and humorist living in Madrid. Her work has been published in Liminal Press, Slackjaw, The Belladonna Comedy, Points in Case and others. Her poetry often explores what families pass down. But her first poem, at eight years old, explored listing her brother on eBay. Find her work at emmamurf.com/writing.