Hillary Keel

Biography

Hillary Keel was born in 1959, at the edge of the Adirondacks in Herkimer, N.Y. She received a B.A. in German and English before moving to Vienna in 1982, where she now has 2 children, teaches English and writes. At the Schule für Dichtung in Wien she studied with Ann Tardos, Christian Loidl, Anne Waldman and Ed Sanders. A member of Labyrinth since 1995, she has taken part in numerous readings in Vienna and performed together with violinist Doris Audetat. Also organised the Labyrinth readings ‘Landscape’ in the Kunsthalle (1999) and ‘Trains’ at Westbahnhof (2002). Her poetry has appeared in subdream, Tinctur and other magazines. She is the author of the chapbooks Windows and Wool (Vienna, 1999) and Moon Kiss (Vienna, 2002).

Poems

Rebirth     Justine & Me     Wind     What I Am

• Rebirth
  
  You lick my love-bud
  like a mother cat
  licks her kitten.

  I want to bear another baby, I think,
  to expel from my depths
  to suck on my nipples
  but as long as there’s you
  it doesn’t matter.

  I take your hard rod
  you fill me
  and I rock you
  like a baby
  a dance
  rock you gently
  to show you’re welcome
  to show I’m glad
  to show I want it
  so you will feed me
  fill me to the brim.

  I rock to soothe and ease you on
  till you expel from your depths
  your fuel
  your love-slime
  your seeds
  little fishes
  your creation.

  You thrust it in me
  jerk and twitch
  and I suck it in
  inhale it
  jolt it back and forth
  send it through my veins
  like electroshock
  like eating fruit
  from the tree of knowledge
  or the bread of heaven
  like drinking from the cup
  of salvation
  or the waters of the fountain
  of youth
  like achieving nirvana.
  

  ©Hillary Keel