Excerpts

if i wanted

i could sing you
clean and clear and sweet as
meltwater.
wrap you round my alphabet tongue

i could ribbon
the sound of           you
down my xylophone spine
all snaked and laddered and
lickety-split.

i could speak you
burst you berried
on my palate
whistle you through my teeth sharp
and high.

i could twist      with
my tongue a word rope
for you to dance
across with an umbrella in your hand
and a short short skirt you could turn
somersaults
 
then jump
i could                  catch
you in my arms.
there would be cheers.  applause.
there would be wolf
whistles.

requiem 1

earth
has tethered this flight -
the sweet loamy smell of us
the picked-clean bones of us
this microbial
disarrangement of senses.

one perfect pinion
sabred
air to ribbons.
one scalpel keelbone
dissected
air to breathing-gas.
one fishhook toe
snagged
tides of cirrus.

the scattered feathers move
to breath
which left the lungs
and won't return
the slow exhale:
the cage of ribs
unbarred, the door
swung wide.
 
the bones are cast
upon the ground,
the fortune gathered up.
this headstone tooth
has bit us off
this tombstone door
has shut us out

the heavy sky let fall
the parts that could not fly.