Ghosts

Daqui

Some ghosts are women,

neither abstract nor pale,

their breasts as limp as killed fish.

Not witches, but ghosts

who come, moving their useless arms

like forsaken servants.

Not all ghosts are women,

I have seen others;

fat, white-bellied men,

wearing their genitals like old rags.

Not devils, but ghosts.

This one thumps barefoot, lurching

above my bed.

But that isn’t all.

Some ghosts are children.

Not angels, but ghosts;

curling like pink tea cups

on any pillow, or kicking,

showing their innocent bottoms, wailing

for Lucifer.

Anne Sexton