Katrina Greco


Rosalind Franklin Writes a Note of Congratulations


Aren’t we always happiest in France? Isn’t it pleasant, surrounded by pastries and coal, acceptable roundness and certainty?

***

Of course, there are ways to see the things that are not meant to be seen. The twinning. Radiant. The turning. Reified. Something stolen. Pretty and unproven. Something barren.

***

Of course, there is a way to see the things you have seen. A moment. A monument. An orange out of season. A ruin. A conflict in data. A curving body. A diffraction.

***

Of course, there are some things that cannot be unseen, no matter what the ways. A womb full of coal, unsparked. Photograph 51. Eye contact. Carcinoma of the ovary. Vaults.

***

Here we are, by a twist of faith and heritage.

But I am always, my dear men, yours: A Research Scientist, Spinster. Daughter of Ellis Arthur Franklin, a Banker.

Katrina Greco’s poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in White Stag, S/tick, Foliate Oak, and Hot Metal Bridge. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she currently resides in Oakland, CA. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from St. Mary’s College of California, and works as an educator, teaching reading skills to children and adults.