"It happened again," Myriam said, as she entered the room. "I screwed up. I'm sorry." She collapsed on the couch, head in her hands. "I just wanted a sip. I thought I had a handle on this ... [+]
do you press down, waiting on words unheard
to trickle up through this, my unchosen ground?
Listen. Only the memory of birth.
I have told you already all I know: that
Love has been for me an altar, the bed
of blood a wound wound around my lefter hand’s
finger, linger —ing venipuncture. Set
not lilacs here; these burgeoning burial
plots are blossoming full. Like the fool, deaf
-hearted, you, one step from the fall,
foal-feet breaking on briars— my last breath
waking you to silence.