Three Palimpsests for Daphne Marlatt
by Steven Ross Smith
i.
A hand reaches
as if an undreamed-of dream surges from
a wrinkle in prune-dark sleep
throws
a shadow-startle down a throat
(a gurgle
of barks?)
thunder
limbs
reed-like, water-tossed
a
shudder of tendrils
chokes off the blush of sun
a clutch of fisted throats
a grasp of thin fingers slips, fingers brush fear
's Eros wells
walls
of water tumbling crazed snatch at solid no solid ground-gone-legless
in tumult reeling water unswimmable dark pitch wet-whirl moment's
nightsweat nightmare-come-real batters undoes unroots unbattens
obliterates
reclaims
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