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Rachel McKibbens

Though often coined a "confessional" poet, Rachel McKibbens prefers the term "sincere." In her first year of slamming, McKibbens helped her team earn the 2001 West Coast Regional Poetry Slam championship team with a perfect score. That same year, she was voted "Best New Poet" by OC Weekly. She has made National Poetry Slam teams for six consecutive years, ranked third in the 2003 Individual World Poetry Slam and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. McKibbens is currently the SlamMaster for NYC/louderARTS and is an Urban Word mentor teaching poetry through The Healing Arts Program at Bellevue Hospital.

rachel at louderarts dot com
www.bullhorncollective.com

your airplanes

I.

over breakfast,
my father asks what you see in me.

I bite the inside of my cheek,

shove a forkful of pancakes into my mouth,
notice the salt shaker eyeing my wounds.

II.

you launch "I love yous"
from a Brooklyn fire escape.

they travel 3,000 postcard miles
and collapse into my ear, exhausted.

I pinch their noses,
breathe new life into their lungs,
fold them into airplanes,

send them back to you
and wait.

III.

there isn’t a building
taller than two stories
here in Orange County.
not a single fire escape.

no point in jumping.
the worst that could happen
is a broken leg or heart.

this is why the sad kids get
so goddamn creative around here.

the mayor’s son rigged his noose
to raise with the garage door
when the Mercedes came home.

a nine-year old leapt into the lion’s cage
at Prentice Park Zoo after
her dog was hit by a car.

IV.

on our wedding day,
when I tell you "I do,"

it’s because I do.

it's because you understand
how ten-thousand dollar apologies
still keep fathers worthless,

it's because my ribcage expands
every time I think of you,

it’s for all the things
you see in me

and pretending
not to notice.

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