AQUATELOS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty ... - Cornell University

10. INCLAYS
how to put it
down, the towel
swollen with grief,
by the red seep
of sunset, the hideous sea
the folklore embodies
sparkling skates once
known as constellations
intrusive as a root
canal, as carnal
organs ripple a harmony
so insensitive it moves
us on and onward, back
to the plush armrests,
long after heart-death
all these dolls
in a ring, so
little, a hole left
by others happier,
as a promise, a lead
a tentacle of moment
grasps the serried hedge
and up from sewage
our lonely god arrives
and begins his seductions
simply bat the dandelion
seed away to lodge
in another lover’s teeth
where we lean hazily
into flesh, the suture
beyond a scalable
photo, behind the cilia
of eyelash, an eyeball
measures and clicks
and measures
one young cone
like a mauve phallus
allows, from its flanks,
a drop or two of sap
identical to dew
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