KEY AND STRING THEORETICALLY RIPPLING IN THE WAKE 
RATTLES SURFACE OF DRYING BONES
EXCAVATED FROM A LAKE

A BLOW AGAINST THE BONES NOW 
STRIKES THEM DOWN INTO THEIR MARROW
DUST FLOATS IN CHAOS TRACING
WING TRACKS OF SPARROW
SUSPENDING CRIMSON IN THE PEARLESCENT WHITES 
OF FRESHLY DRIED SIGHT
KICKS IRIS 
WITH THE ILLUSION 
OF LIGHT IN MEMORY

STRING STRIKES WAGE WAR
AGAINST THE KICKS OF AN ANCHOR ONCE ASHORE
NOW NO MORE 
REVIVAL ON THE OCEAN’S FLOOR
NOW NO MORE 
REVIVAL ON THE BEDROOM DOOR
SUCK THE CRIMSON FROM THE BITS AND 
PRAY FOR MORE 
CRUSH THE BITS IN A STAMPING FIT 
ON A REVIVAL FLOOR 

A SEXED BEING SPLITS ON DEW OF THE WAVE PROJECTION
NOW MORE, DIVVIED INTO THE POSSIBILITIES THAT LIE THEREIN

SHE NOW THEE, ASTRAL BEAM OUT IN A PUNCH FROM THE GUT
DISEMBOWELING THE DUB OF WHAT LIED IN THE SUB

HIS HIGH STRUNG WIRE SHRIEKS AT ITS SCRAPING
THOUGH THREADBARE, STILL INEFFABLE. 
BREAKS IN ITS GAPING

Copyright © 2023 by Juliana Huxtable. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 22, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.