ARE NOT NO TEAR

from      form
for to rest upon,      rent of, stop our
notes’      onset.
O sentence      once tense,
skin      inks
indelible, was      libel, sawed in
a shelf      aflesh.
In meat,      I meant,      in meat
begin      being
read,      dear,      a red
season      as one’s
affairs      afar, ifs
in wet blossom      blown, so I stem.
Flower      flew, or
eros      rose,
or trees      reset, or
please      elapse
is lips,        is lips.      I slips
it into night.         In tonight, it
plays      splay,
sore throats’ dins I      shored into stars. I
read      dare
to be a snow-pure      re-up, a bet won so
on aim,      on I am,
throw      worth
its harm,      this arm,
mute song      sung to me,
a moot      am too.

From Stet by Dora Malech. Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.