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I thought that there were two
The good voice
And my voice
I thought the good voice was buried
And I would have to go
Under my voice
Which is glittery and cold
To get there
Then I heard them
A drumbeat and hawks
Also snakes
Many wild voices
Heartbeats
Big beats
One beat
All over
Do you hear it?
I hear it now
Speeding up
Taking me up
Copyright @ 2014 by Melissa Broder. Used with permission of the author. This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on August 26, 2014.
When you fled I disappeared
into the abscesses of my brain.
We are both impulsive humans
and perhaps my disappearance
was premature. To reappear
I had to grow younger. I began
consuming images of boys
at a very rapid speed, never
their bodies just reflections.
I distorted all the mirrors
in mucus, oil and blood.
When I say that I consumed
I do not mean that I ate the mirrors,
only that I stood beside the boys,
dowsed the glass and incanted.
I chanted you love me you love me
I give a convincing sermon. I say The body
is a coat. It is a very dark and heavy coat
but worthless. Mother Mary nods from the pews.
If I give Mary all my atoms she will plant them
in a garden where ripened women relinquish
their bones to make room for littler women.
It is dangerous to grow accustomed to a garden.
Just when the flowers soften you, they disappear.
Then you are a weepy fern among skyscrapers.
I don't want my soul exposed like that.
Neither can you make a garden stay. Don't even try.