Like a bird swallowing pebbles to add to its bag of teeth, I am taking my dosage, a series of small disasters. The imbricated scales of a woman with the skin of a snake whisper against my fur, my lucky foot. I must save her from the clay-thick blade of the hoe. Her tongue is a verb, her belly is a burial mound, her knuckles are soft as the heads of plush dolls. She sets a trap for the sun, which wants nothing more than an eyelid it can close. Any jar will do and any minced knob of ginger. Rain from the nearest cloud. No honey, or the buds will burst into leaf, and what would you do then, oh walking stick?
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
I think I might title this “Prince Andrei’s Dream Before Seeing the Oak in Leaf.”
(All in all, I think I’m glad to be a Pierre, though.)
This is wonderful, you can run it through your fingers like a rosary, bead after bead.
I know that’s a W&P reference, but it’s been too many decades — I don’t even remember who was who. (Was Pierre the one who converted to freemasonry?) Anyway, thanks!
You have a wild night brain!
Are you telling me I’m not normal? *shock*