One Poem to Rule Them All

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 One Poem To Rule Them All


I am still learning

to sit topless on my back 

porch. The sun would ripen

my used breasts like two

misshapen plums.


Chen Chen and Meg

already know how to keep their neighbor’s

secrets. The boxed wine. The infrequent

visits from a daughter.

 

I am still learning to keep mine.

What I really think about hummingbirds,

the unspeakable afternoons,

swirls of red paint and smoke.


Even if, like Sedna,

one were to lop off all my

fingers, I’d keep my top

held down while I ceased

to struggle, while I sank.


Tell me more about the music

of your youth, how it feels 

to know no one is coming

to get you. Don’t you remember?


I said I’m still learning.

I hold my palms behind the backs

of my ears, catching 

whatever reverberates

in the wind.

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