Troubling the Body Count
1 Out Of Which A Noise Came
Nothing on television answered
even one
in the series of questions: who was left
standing, and how
were they arranged? Who will reassemble
the limbs and fingers
we have on file, boxed
and waiting?
Better not –
2 With Whom I Was In Love While I Was In Love With You
Did I conduct the electricity or just
describe it? I remember
a series of bodies pitted against mine.
I don’t remember who invited them,
or what the arc of consent was.
The echo of it, the yes in stereo, the magnets
behind our breastbones.
The keys in our palms.
The backs of whose knees hummed — I wanted
that shoulder in my mouth
the way I held yours; and it was small, and fit there.
3 In Which We Believe
The last day.
A series of last days:
horsemen.
Whose gesture is it?
The sky,
reliable for so long, ripped open.
(In FIELD, Fall 2008)
