once a summer, my mother / had to remove the ivy / from the siding of our house / to keep it from overtaking the windows / and shrouding the family pictures, the fireplace, the couch / in green shadows / i mourned the loss / the thin tendrils ripped from the bricks / leaving dried veins as a memory / of the leaves that climbed / twisted / finagled their way inside / this was the first time i learned / that a beautiful thing could kill you / but every season / the ivy grew back / slick and stubborn / green fingers gripping the bricks / we never noticed it / until the ivy was / a beard of leaves mocking us / lush / a life overtaking our lives / daring us to kill it / grinning and ripping / chunks of our house away with it / my mother tried fire / tried poison / tried knives / still the ivy rose again / quiet as smoke / the silent creeper / tapped at my window / romeo, romeo / i let it in / and let it kiss me / overwhelm me / the ivy climbed my spine / crawled into my skull / brain burdened, heavy-headed / i rested all summer / slept as ivy crept / across my eyes / between my teeth / out of my nose / mouth of ivy / palms of ivy / brain a ball of ivy / japanese beetles shuddered beneath my leaves / dotted ladybugs / soft and hollow moths / the grief of greenery / when i spoke / there was the sound of leaves rustling / my limbs stiff and decrepit / my body a bony ruin / shattered windows / from when kids broke in / ivy trailed the floors / looped across the ceiling / carpet of ivy / chair of ivy / lamp of ivy / organs of ivy / my mother found me sleeping / in a bed of ivy / with gothic spires for fingers / mold in my molars / i, a moss-ridden moth house / she could not pull the ivy off / without pulling me apart / i, a little juliet sleeping / she could not wake me
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Kimberly Ramos is an undergraduate at Truman State University pursuing a double major in creative writing and philosophy. Her research interests include New Fabulist poetry and philosophy of mind. Her work has appeared in Watershed Review, Underground, FreezeRay, The Lindenwood Review, The Poet’s Haven Digest, and Windfall.