03-14-2025, 08:19 AM
I
A babe begotten in June,
emerges with truth in her eyes—
refuses to take milk, to suck.
The nurses exchange glances, unnerved.
A Sunday school sweetheart,
china doll spinning vowels,
vowels spinning, soft as prayer,
hallowed be the gentle refrain of
words, rivers, words again.
Fingers play at cotton sleeve, velvet ribbon.
A bride, poring over Joyce,
fingernail spirals on her thigh,
feels for Molly, for Anna Livia—
riverrun deeper than prayer.
a knot tightens round her heart,
a strand of hair, sharp, sticky—
grips, twists.
II
All-American girl, candylips,
O, how they drove to uproar
at the contour of your hips!
Beside me in the taxi,
you see your lover in the moon,
Turn outward, cracked mirror—
a silvery disc in the breathfog glass.
You hug yourself, pull your coat tighter.
Last night you dreamt of
snake coiled around egg,
dislocated jaw—
a crunch, a pop,
the precious yolk devoured,
the promise of love undone.
A babe begotten in June,
emerges with truth in her eyes—
refuses to take milk, to suck.
The nurses exchange glances, unnerved.
A Sunday school sweetheart,
china doll spinning vowels,
vowels spinning, soft as prayer,
hallowed be the gentle refrain of
words, rivers, words again.
Fingers play at cotton sleeve, velvet ribbon.
A bride, poring over Joyce,
fingernail spirals on her thigh,
feels for Molly, for Anna Livia—
riverrun deeper than prayer.
a knot tightens round her heart,
a strand of hair, sharp, sticky—
grips, twists.
II
All-American girl, candylips,
O, how they drove to uproar
at the contour of your hips!
Beside me in the taxi,
you see your lover in the moon,
Turn outward, cracked mirror—
a silvery disc in the breathfog glass.
You hug yourself, pull your coat tighter.
Last night you dreamt of
snake coiled around egg,
dislocated jaw—
a crunch, a pop,
the precious yolk devoured,
the promise of love undone.