danger wore a bolt purple dress
he reads poems as bedtime stories
to the children kneeled at his feet
in bewildered woods widowed
where he could have been jesus
he borrows tongues like promises
like weapons
so to dance in dapples
he doesn’t let me in
i had seen him before
in somebody else’s arms don’t
tell me of romance
that slumbering beast
whilst you caress the deer
slung over your shoulder
he is scarred from elbow to terrace
his boots have spurs
he screams when he runs
with his slunken soul dragging behind
claw marks in the wet soil
he smells of your brother’s uncle fresh
from a shower
steamy like rice
and soup
h taught me how to write
how to steal words as prey
why ants scatter in circles
to brandish my urgency
like the ripening plum enduring
a simpson summer
who were you
to tell him of beauty and grace
and reals that blossom and a woman’s hip
Cicil’s violent silence shatters and
we eloped back in march