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O D E TO S P I T T I N G I N Y R M O U T H
february now & it feels like summer / all heat-bloat / no rain / i go to the ocean to cool / & the shore / has become an insatiable drunk / the ocean waves / but i don’t / know its face so drawn / so shrunk so i shrug / & walk / & i walk & the water / slides farther & farther away / i unweight / my boots / their anvil of sand / refill them my cold granite feet / back home / in a vortex of bedsheets / you weep as tho to replenish the sea / to level / the drought / i spit in your mouth / to barter the ocean / its emptiness / for my want / i deluge & come / on my knees / await the unremarkable death / of the earth / & still thirsty / the evening opens / its mouth / one block over / our neighbor jimmy lives in a tent / by the condo construction / when i wake / to his howls curdling the air / i fill your mouth / with my fingers / as if they could busy / every wailing tongue / you fill me with forgetting / drown / his moans with mine / & in the dark we pull each other’s hair / say i’m a lez for you / & mean abolish the family / say make me bleed / & mean healthcare should be free / you paint my skin with angry red / slap-prints when i tell you to / remind me / i know / how to hurt myself better than anyone / it works / until the sun clocks back in / for an eleven-hour shift / for which she like us / does not get paid enough / to keep her from setting every day / things on fire / just to keep the floorboards warm / in the kitchen / you turn up / the oven / say talk dirty to me / i unsheathe / the meat knife / my breath at your throat / whisper / the blade to your hip / trace dreams of the blood / we could tease / from our landlords / run / as tho rivers / could turn / into banks / we save / every drop & sell it for souls / theirs wanting / ours empty / & thirsty / still / thirsty still / thirsty i spit / & i spit & i / downpour --& i empty i come on my knees |