Testimonial
Kelly Cooper
About the Author:
Kells writes from her home in Louisville, KY where she stands in front of students telling stories and explaining literary things. Pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann Graduate School of Writing, Kells also enjoys travel, music, food, and nature. Kells is a 2025 recipient of The Charles Diderot Artist Grant for the Artist in Residency Chateau d’Orquevaux International Artist and Writer’s Residency Program, France, where her work is a part of the permanent collection.
Instagram: @kells77bells
a preacher’s wife once told me
love demands I swallow everything whole
let it like acid dissolve the visions I held
my naive wish for as long as we both shall live
too many times put them back in his grip
beating & bleeding for better for worse
I sat too long the meal gone cold
thought love would settle from this day forward
I sipped his cocktail of unkept promises a slow poison
choking my sacral bowl of hope in sickness in health
is she still dusting her dream this church dame
remnant of a girl glimmering in a sunstream
does she remember the hungry host in her chest
I lifted mine brushed off the gravel
the Jesus-wife turned her back I burned the dress in white
fell to earth firework ash on my tongue