The Mütter Museum

Here at the Mütter Museum among the skulls
displayed on gleaming bookshelves, all
orifices laid bare, the diseased and the dissected,
warty legs and elephantine colons;
algae green jars that swim with the unborn,
tiny seahorses in a child's fish tank.
Or, if you prefer, bound instrument cases made
by whimsical anatomists whose unflinching
hands filleted desiccated skin.

Kathryn A. Kopple is a translator and writer.  Her translations have appeared in boundary 2, Exact Change Yearbook, and These Are Not Sweet Girls, among other publications.  She has had original poetry and prose published in Contemporary Haibun Online, The Hummingbird Review, Danse Macabre and Metropolis.  She lives with her family in Philadelphia, PA.