on the hunt for how we might voice grief.

i

i

cut off parts of my own spine//

letting it all loose.

i left them behind && i

fetched them back in dreams//

//slowly// .

piece by burning piece.

&& my lover measured me up by the firelight:

unclean beast tumbling from my collarbones forward//

embers

in every freckle// soot

in every freckle// scars

in every freckle.

how do you learn that.

how do you feel your gentle inside

&& be told you are // in fact// sharded

glass.

how do you touch your own skin

without feeling the great amounts of space the night sky carries above its

massive elbows//

the kind of space you felt most clearly//

as a child.

(take a second & call that sensation back)