Diagnostic

Somewhere, a vein.
Little tributary encircling

a lower region. A calf,
perhaps. No, lower:
an ankle. Who dipped
their foot in the same

river twice, three times,
uncountable; and emerged
hypostatic. Who binds

the salt tides to the body
like a magnet, spinning
even now. Blood-stumble,
mouth-stutter, heart

thirst: what we pay
in passage north.