Poetry

Dere dey are, dem daffodils, out on de lawn wif dere heads
bent like candle-snuffers making de light go out.

Joseph, my betrothed, I don’t know
where to start. I was into the red
of this egg a long, long time before

tell dem
tell dem
that dem cars
with my blood in dem gas tanks
soon run dry
soon stop run

August burns the sea to galvanize.
Breakers
clamour at Las Cuevas Bay beneath

You have the same name as him.
My conscript tongue has practice
in bitter acrobatics,
transitioning from close to
close so often
to containment;

RAPTURE

the devil leapt out of her dress,
the w o myn w o m an fled

the devil leapt out of her dress,
she left it on side of the road

iii

Slip me into ice-blue
satin pajamas
and close the lid
Say I was wise
in the guise of
“little girl lost”
Call down the rain

GRAVE END

Twilight creeps upon the walls.
Fires extinguish while the rain falls.
Hell opens up her mind, to keep the talents

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