bones & brick

with a body, sing a body

to a body, of a body, bodies sing

Of wrists and ankles, and things to clasp

small, wring round, something to grasp

--on all fours, an animal

(delicate, on wrists & ankles)

--on all fours, an animal

blown up from bottom air, back stretched,

back the skin of a balloon, paper

thin and billowing

a cat yawn[s]

ankles

springs, erect, at attention

--no, no

whittle away, the bone

sharp, plume, whittle into your sneakers

dripping,

tissue, soft, pink, a puddle

you are standing in a puddle

conversely, you are a puddle

--with a body, sing a body

plastic, taffy

two bodies, sing

feel the strings of fibers, entwine

give substance to

this muscle, a rope thick

--snap, off, the harp strings

here

here

interrupts my skin

--of things that glow, that grow

eternal and whispering

enchant

your eyes, spellbound

your eyes

of a body, sing the body

--a song, arched, slung, a bubble

from the teeth of a child

blown, hung, wrung—

--a sound slips into the ocean

like ash thin

a wisp, a sheet, darted (in)

    dissipates

(here,

    interrupts the skin)

--of wrists and ankles

the fingers, cast

gems on some shore

borne,

twinkling, fast

    --quick beneath the sand, slither

a cockroach black

say my skin is perfect

I haven’t a single crack

from the inside it begins

this infernal stretch

ten thousand caves, labyrinth

melt, crash—

(& all your diamond crucifixes,

cross, criss cross, crosshatch)

the rubies, one hard and perfect

fits in my mouth

--try to pry it from my teeth

I’ll murder you

I won’t bat an eye

slipped the pearl from under my nail

they fell spilling, milk

shattered, lost glass marbles

--a girl smokes in the corner

twirls her cigarette like a baton

--swallow back the bird,

struggling in my mouth

dove tails down my throat,

a wet chute down

(no poison, not now)

take my body malleable

it’s an offering

I swear, the elements

I’ve never loved more

than when they tear

say in pieces, I am full

say in pieces, I am made

say I am a body

I am a slave