remember the house, hiding under green | 1 |
tongues of moss, the drive lined with plums bulging | 2 |
vodka-soaked juicy fruit— | 3 |
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and above, chicken coop and wine jugs. | 4 |
the devil's banner, the iron maiden of young love | 5 |
parting lips, her first, bitter and sweet | 6 |
all at once. | 7 |
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and what lies there still? the old piano | 8 |
dozing in the parlor, its teeth yellowed with age, | 9 |
a sundress dangling in the attic like a body, | 10 |
a crooked photograph of a girl fading... | 11 |
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wonder is about these things | 12 |
when the wind opens a window; the past, | 13 |
her heavy-metal hair, the cherries lining her casket-- | 14 |
have they withered, have they soured? | 15 |
who's dream is this anyway? | 16 |
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under what ocean, in which house-fire | 17 |
in what memory, hour, year, | 18 |
were her cries countless? | 19 |
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which life carried her innocence | 20 |
those bones built in her | 21 |
her body, flesh-filled full of love? | 22 |
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in what existence did she wake | 23 |
and feel the fell of darkness, her heart blood- | 24 |
brimmed with curse? | 25 |
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the fire was intended, but the house | 26 |
still stands, I can see it through the window, | 27 |
the kids are still drunk, waving goodbye | 28 |
and that girl calling back to me | 29 |