our time, falling into the sear, | 1 |
the golden leaf, | 2 |
the sheath that shrouds us in rust— | 3 |
| |
must we depart this mondegreen | 4 |
of eels stretched between quiver slowed, | 5 |
as we abide this flavus dance | 6 |
to which my cheekbones erode? | 7 |
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pressed cold against the sloth | 8 |
of your devotion, | 9 |
would i wither, | 10 |
spoon-drift on an ocean, nothing more | 11 |
than a notion curled in the cradle | 12 |
of your oily waters? | 13 |
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have i not sliced into you, | 14 |
half afraid, | 15 |
pushing back your purple vein | 16 |
as you lay silky, naked, in the blade | 17 |
of things to come— | 18 |
posing in the window | 19 |
stiff and gleaming, face to sun? | 20 |
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lest we neglect our stems | 21 |
gaunched to a hundred yellow beds, | 22 |
each pappus strewn to my breast, | 23 |
your limbs in moon-ray rooting | 24 |
to every genus thread— | 25 |
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and what of the clank and groan | 26 |
of ballads thrown, the lily spillage and lore, | 27 |
the blown bulbs and fountain pillage | 28 |
that swells beneath the floor? | 29 |
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lo' the rale of restrain, | 30 |
the whites of our eyes tipped out | 31 |
in a portal of seep and strain; | 32 |
disease cut into our arms and thighs | 33 |
with the sly ink of mustard stains. | 34 |
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would my fists, pelting your chest | 35 |
and its waxen plains, | 36 |
prove a vain betrayal of my affection? | 37 |
would your kiss, crashing into my mouth | 38 |
like an axe coming down | 39 |
between desire and rain, | 40 |
explain the anguish of such certainty? | 41 |
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time will dip to drink again, | 42 |
this phatic waltz, noxious weed; | 43 |
our breath sodden with longing, | 44 |
the milky latex dripping | 45 |
from your sleeve. | 46 |
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i made your heart my garden, | 47 |
the husk of you, hardened in my palm. | 48 |
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so many last days, so many yellows | 49 |
loftily rephrased. our sighs, | 50 |
sprouting from cracks in the sidewalk, | 51 |
like dandelions; | 52 |
treasures in decay. | 53 |