Morgan Kali Murray

by Vince Gotera

This is Michael Carey for Voices from the Prairie a weekly sampling from the rich soil of Iowa’s literary tradition. Today’s poem is "Morgan Kali Murray" by Vince Gotera of Cedar Falls. In it we realize that everyone even dental hygienists are people and have a stories to tell and how all these stories come together every day in flesh and blood and bone deeply even in the most mundane and unbeautiful of situations.

Morgan Kali Murray

Her mother had named her after the car,
the MG’s richer cousin, leather belt
strapping down the engine cowling. She added
the middle name while into Hindu mythology at Vassar.
She had always admired
Kali’s many arms, the necklace of skulls.
But I met her at the dentist’s. Auburn hair
like a candle flame above her dental
assistant whites.
                             Wild, wild nights
every Sunday at her basement apartment, she
still sweaty from a weekend of riding.
Jolene the Rodeo Queen,
Budweiser-loving barrel racer.
Then Monday mornings, I’d be in the chair,
the dentist and I breathing each other’s breath.
And Morgan sitting just to my left, a hand on my thigh,
smiling through
                        a mist of blood and water,
                        suspension of tiny shavings of teeth.

"Morgan Kali Murray" by Vince Gotera from his book Dragonfly published by Pecan Grove Press.

For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.

Biography

Vince Gotera is the editor of The North American Review (the oldest literary magazine in the U.S. as well as Professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls where he lives with his wife Mary Ann and their four children: Amanda, Amelia, Melina and Gabriel. He plays bass guitar in the band Rock of Ages and his favorite color is blue. His work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies including: Radical Visions: Poetry by Vietnam Veterans (criticism), Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and Asian Pacific Journal. His first book of poetry Dragonfly was published in 1994 by Pecan Grove Press of San Antonio Texas.