Christine McNair

undo what's done, the doing of the deed

 

done on that day, dreadful deadening

 

down dusk fills daydreams, the dripped  

 

deckle of a dancing drowned discovery,

 

wound dissolved then deepened, drecked

 

wrecked delicacy, the delicious tendered

 

damage, what damned dullness in all this

 

doing, in the dreadfulness of days undone.

 

bed me with lavender

tattoo some cuneiform

 

abjad into cardiac vessels

hot cut radiance blister

 

packed, a two-for-one offer

of woad bled over bit lip,

 

wrinkled stems pollinate

broken umbrellas, debride

 

torn silk back into lovers'

spit, pacify capillaries

 

but just let go:

release my feckless heart

full punch to the ticker

 

I always remembered to clean up

I am a curved piece of glass

I am a most pleasant dream

I am a price

I am a saltshaker

I am a torn playing card

I am a whirly gig

I am afraid of dying

I am afraid of you

I am all water

I am an anvil

I am an expert in doorways and windows

I am entirely capable

I am just going outside and may be some time

I am measure beyond measure

I am noctilucent

I am willing

I asked for one thing

I asked you over and over

I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't

I carry in both arms

I continue the conversation

I did nothing wrong

I did something wrong

I didn't say that

I don't know

I don't sleep well with others

I fucking dare you

I get to know most things

I go missing

I have lost everything but this

I inspire the most horrible

I know how to read my palm

I let fly trestles

I like the weapon

I love by proxy

I make you sweat

I morph under pressure

I mourn white space

I promise

I pull myself together in pieces

I put my clasped hands into fire

I put my shoes on there

I rub your words between my fingers

I say these things like they mean something

I say water

I say you are honest

I show you my jaw

I spy through my little eye

I talk to emulsions

I turn my head away

I twirl the rolodex of me

I wanted to know what you wanted

I was carrying it

I was mad at you, uncertain

I was so careful

I was the woman at the well

I waste no time

I wave to you from lake beds

I will not promise to be okay

I wish my life didn't have a soundtrack

I won't say

I would do anything to fix this

I would rather die

I write a word to stop a truck

I yearn for nothing