264 Readings

nib of ice

nib of ice                                                               
                                                                                                 a digit  poised    pierced     a series

of death rays        pricks the invisible brilliance of night        women’s shadows file past me

past light     call out in silence      dreamt in theft     written in blanks     filed away past sleep    

purchase sleek machines of communication but silence rules the roaming

brunette men sit in corners in cafés bleeding gorgeous

black indifference rose cheeks and fine soft chests glow

almost beardless in vintage shirts and trousers                    

buried in books and screens

consistently resistant

to tentative windows

withstand entreaty

like saplings

too-early October storms

                                                           so subvert the green cliché

young shoots snow-split

me the red stone

the root from which you strain

lyric syllabic stem it strains away

sweet neck from the dangled blade

charitable noose unknot my lips

up on a soap-box stool I trip

burn all my closed-mouthed children              first cut out all their tongues
Posted 10/01/12
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