Your curls are soaked in gold but your fingers

cling to my back & could work

a filament & needle through

the gash that leads to the decayed

rafters of a barn

hush the pigeons who coo there

one by one by

breaking their necks

The river smells of September wending

through the dry fields

a blue vein

your thumb traces along a wrist

my wrist

careful never

to the source

I’ve slept with the image of your

arm on my chest

your breath collects in the tiniest

droplets on my neck

but touching myself

to your scalp’s human smell

tarnishes the mirror’s

silver backing

Another woman holds

your beloved’s hands

You hold me like the blue

of an egg you’ve found

bulging from the grass

Trade your house key for

a clutch of mums

we'll put in water on the sill

Fold your ring

in the chapped hand of a man

waiting by the exit ramp

though the jingle of coins or

a bitten chicken sandwich

would do

Turn to me & lift your hair

I’ll clasp on you a necklace

strung with the heads of snakes