Spirits of the Motherland /// by Jim Davis

[vc_row row_height_percent=”50″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ back_image=”56863″ back_position=”center top” overlay_alpha=”0″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ position_vertical=”bottom” style=”dark” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h1″ text_size=”fontsize-338686″ text_height=”fontheight-179065″ text_space=”fontspace-111509″ text_font=”font-762333″ text_weight=”700″ text_color=”color-xsdn” sub_reduced=”yes” subheading=”by Jim Davis”]Spirits of the Motherland[/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space empty_h=”2″][vc_column_text]Xena Warrior Princess with an iron
bra sprays Downy wrinkle release
on khakis & I say thank you. I am gentle.
There’s a little nipple on my new pen
so I can draw on my intelligent pad, 15
dreams of when I was a violent man-
sized version of Brahman. Full of unseen
colonies, my hands could summon
cold. WASH ME written on the passenger
window covered in salt. I water the Shasta
daisy with Mt. Dew, the rare old kind
that makes grasses grow & water flow
in a free & easy way-gone part of me still
alive outside Limerick, rousing a cup of tea.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space][vc_separator sep_color=”color-184322″ el_width=”30%”][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_right” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/3″][vc_single_image media=”57350″ media_width_percent=”100″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Jim Davis is a Master’s candidate at Harvard University, and has previously studied at Northwestern University and Knox College. His work has appeared in Seneca Review, Santa Clara Review, Wisconsin Review, Midwest Quarterly, and California Journal of Poetics, among many others. In addition to the arts, Jim is a teacher, coach, and international semi-professional football player.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]