Plum Psalm
They are bailing water, my tears, from the sinking ship like Alice.
I remember coaxing plums into my mouth in September
the worst day of my life.
I am the Empress Hotel; and the twist of the knife
that I swore I'd plunge into the lace to revel late in my adornment.
may I keep myself open, my remedies foreign--
my bark as deadly as my bite.
my love as ruthless as my spite.
They are boiling the water, water cycle, I choked up on the street.
May I be the salt that dissolves in the sea
the pressure a soldier applies to the wound.
(I've read those psalms with open palms
and none of them apply to you.)
I’ve melted, burning, into many sets of arms inside this life
I’ve drifted off into many a dream mid-violin lesson.
So pull! Pull the tooth! Emerge naked and half-raw from your mouth. A man may drown in the shallowest of water. So pull! So keep your head raised! So keep your teeth!
I call this chapter four. Where I am no longer the dragon Arthur slew.
(I’ve read those psalms with open palms and none of them apply to you).
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