I carefully rearranged my senses
So they could have a conversation.
Taught them to switch places;
From each pore in my skin grew shimmering eyes!
And fingerprints filled the eye sockets.
From the ears grew two tongues
And I sang for people passing a strange song.
Told them stories without moving my lips!
(Mouth half-open, still)
They assumed the words came from themselves;
These unfamiliar thoughts,
And I sang to them
Such is the speech of the body:
The ribs painted their fingernails.
(Black! Of course)
And on the edges of the cunt
Grew little teeth!
The clitoris, that great sphinx, opened its eye:
So many blind years, acting oedipus
Meanwhile the vocal chords were listening
For the wind howling,
Whispering a familiar language of breath –
Secret tales for them to learn.
Then from my veins came a strange itching,
And I felt a pull through the shoulder blades.
I should have seen it coming!
The blood was itching!
And etched a hole at the nape of the neck.
It flew out into the night
Like a long, red ribbon to the sky.
And up we went, blood and I, spread over the city.
The dark sky lay against my skin,
So close like an eyelid.
