THIS INSISTENT LIST

Grave Anatomy

The spinal cord is a zipper, a plunging ache that never scabs

It empties itself and sinks fast into fat’s bisque pillow

The heart in section is a gas mask, propped stiff among the living

The skeleton maintains contract with re-grounded electricity

Pity this half-dead specimen sinking fast into the ground

The world is gone from halfway blue to waking up to sunburned cloud

Small seeds in darkness have put it together

– by teasing dust that passes through –

When healers heal, the sun reveals it

When healers fail, the earth conceals it