Inkwell Journal

Re-writing the Genetic Code

Joshua Conklin

We might say that the language of heredity is
written in an alphabet of only four letters.

-Carl Sagan

For all the lines I have re-worded and syllables I have struck
from the pages of my poetry,
I have not yet discovered how to spread
my wife’s ribs
and re-write her genetic alphabet.

These four letters will not budge from their strands,
and I’ve worn down countless erasers,
smudging bones with effort.

We are stuck with these biological prophecies.
A mother, aunt, and grandmother
all lost to the cancerous script
of deoxyribonucleic acid.

They speak to my dreams:

Forgive the cells
we left to her against our will.
Make your pen a scalpel,
carve a new story into her veins,
parting strands with syllables.
Scrape the quill across her sternum,
reprogram her flesh,
tear percentages from her nucleus,
and unwind her double helix.

Each night I wrap my arms around my wife,
feel her breasts, young and soft,
rise and fall in the cups of my palms.
I slide my fingertips along their edge,
take notes for tomorrow.
When I’ll write and hope to transfuse the history
heredity lays on her breasts.

INKWELL Magazine
Manhattanville College
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Email: inkwell@mville.edu