“the girl with him” in Hemingway

I read
differently…what she had “taken off…”
what “she didn’t
want to,” what “if she did…”

If only he could change
position

with respect
to hills, like elephants—white in light
when white is presence

in pigments, absence

the color of the object
changing, like iridescence

like things (her favorite word)
she really wanted, despite the eyes
apologetic—things

like mother-
of-pearl. Fish, peacocks, as examples

Kathleen Hellen is the author of The Only Country was the Color of My Skin (2018), the award-winning collection Umberto’s Night, and two chapbooks, The Girl Who Loved Mothra and Pentimento. Nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net, and featured on Poetry Daily, her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in American Letters and Commentary, Barrow Street, Cimarron Review, The Massachusetts Review, New Letters, North American Review, Poetry East, and West Branch, among others. Hellen has won the Thomas Merton poetry prize and prizes from the H.O.W. Journal and Washington Square Review. For more on Kathleen visit www.kathleenhellen.com.