enough men
i.
enough that cradle. enough that gray.
enough that the build of my pride is a trellis.
slight and faint and held up by its gaps. functionless,
memorial. enough
that my posture compacted, curled up like a twig into brittle silence,
milkbone, like casket water, what was stretched
and limber, convivial and rich, green, now dry-rot and yanked
together in layers of bands, perhaps functional if a basket, at least
a receptacle,
stiff and compact, neutered and dull, now caressing
itself.
ii.
endocene fatal enter taper turnpike
jessie of the back ride
giddy parade of coral capes and lip
dawns nullify this path or that paper box
the bride, the maid, the motor
maybe an archway ceremonial bracketwork
something for someone to walk through ingress
12:99
half doze in the second bed. precious exchange
and tender, then: clap like the plum folds
off the platter.
a glitch in the coda, I was to lie still. still I think
I woke you by the crack it made. the body answers
by dosing; an object; to object. falling
BANK
off a chair like a snap indulgence. full body breakage
at the mid-quiet, what is the negotiation, neckspeed
calculus of who-said-what-first. how to play it.
(the bottle’s over-engineered: I am playing it.
keeping my face clean, keeping my nails round.
lock after lock after leisure)
kismet of the supple kind
settling in
I am in. every exhale a question
will it won’t. speak as a formalist
desires. still hot near the mastoid.
everyone in love but I’m missing
the drop-off. meanwhile the days
grow warmer and we’re punished
in the spring. I am always craving
garlic. I am always scorning people
for eating such good things. maybe
once I’ll have a whole collection of
ducks. there is a catalogue for them
and they ship to France. my housemate
licks her fingers when she cooks and then
she shares. who can be blamed. the crippitaw
craves. scuttle for the iron. you made a manor and
I sleep in it like the cast iron creed. fables save us. rabbits on the
farm. orange hay and a yellow carrot. horses crunching. history collapses, we’re all under
a whole lot of stress so if you could do the decent thing and remove the gums then we can fight back
and the words that fill our hands will be heard and be swallowed and maybe even be acted upon and
we can all make decisions together though instead I feel sick at the sight and the gap is so far and the
steps are so heavy and I really wish you wouldn’t
call
call me
call me that
call me that to
call me that to take
call me that to take up
call me that to take up space