He —
You saw the way her body looked at me
all address
calling me down
she was so
well-turned,
curve and volume
her body presented itself —
Clay —
I could mold it
She —
You were taboo
not totem —
covered her
though your wing gave no shelter
Your pale plumage
became shadow
Your beak caught
in the net of her hair
He —
When I entered her
her death became my life
in her death swoon
she fell away from me
the more she fell
the deeper I pursued her
the deeper I went
the more lost she became
her body
became a forest of echoes
hills and valleys
echoing each other, a language
I didn't know —
surrounded: alone
She —
The discarded body
lies in long grass
Flies and wasps
fumble there —
on a summer day
the lost girl hums —
Kelly, Sarah, Joanne changed
into parable
Prodigal hair
flung out
body agape
like a question
The scavenger crow knows —
she's beautiful,
outgrowing her name
in the noon heat