Poetry by Simon Perchik
*
Branching
out and this hillside
bit
by bit unraveling
the
way your shadow keeps to itself
just
by darkening, fed the dirt
you
once could see through
as
if nothing was there to hum
then
swallow some old love song
that
came into the world
facing
the ground still trying
to
leave you and night after night
you
listen for these smaller
then
smaller stones eating alone
as
the cry forever struggling
from
its harsh stranglehold
to
keep up, side by side and stay.
*
Afraid
and the wall
follows
behind though you
point,
know all about
descent
and hammer blows
as
the distant cry from home
–you
sift between
as
if this ready-mix
no
longer cares about stone
broken
open against one finger
retracing
some caress
lost
and the others
with
no end to it.
*
As
if by yourself the harness
half
branches, half marble
struggling
to slow the moss
and
around both shoulders
the
crowd envies such a strength
–a
fake! what they don’t see
is
the iron bit that’s vaguely green
though
it’s your jaws not these gates
that
cannot move without you
–a
belonging and yet this mold
is
always in bloom, holding on
to
one winter more
that
needs flowers
the
way all mourners kneel
and
underneath the snow
look
for a wagon not from wood
breaking
down in front its fragrance
and
where you stopped for water.
*
Just
by reaching in –this sore
is
heated though your arm
covers
it the way moonlight
can’t
hold on any longer
lets
some hillside pour over it
and
mornings too grow huge
count
the nights from so far off
and
each other –you collect
enter
each room deeper and deeper
careful
not to shake the walls
–on
tiptoe so nothing falls
takes
root bent over a table
warmed
by these small rocks
to
follow you, shut half by the stench
half
on their own, one by one.
*
You
think it’s cramps
though
certainly this dirt
resembles
her voice
and
no one here but you
pours
from a bowl, sure
it’s
laced, opens out
sickens
your step by step
–for
a while they’re quiet
washed
in front her grave
though
your mouth is tighter
swollen,
surrounded by inches
no
longer dry or empty.
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