After Shadows and Silence
whose eyes are the first espresso after customs
whose hair is an eagle spiralling the updrafts
the one whose throat is Hennessy
whose forehead is the Pacific horizon at dawn
whose loins are stacks of lumber in winter
whose mouth is an oyster in its pearl jacket
the one whose back is Guernica as it hung in exile
whose mind is an advancing hurricane
whose fingertips are the marimbas of Veracruz
whose tongue is a robe of silk crêpe de chine
the one whose spleen is Paris
whose ears are shiitake mushrooms in hoisin sauce
whose breath is autumn in Appalachia
the crook of whose elbow is a cove of pretty fishes
the nape of whose neck is borzoi and she-wolf
whose toes are The Moonlight Sonata
whose chest is Vesuvius across the bay
whose shoulders are the rumor of armistice
whose gaze cascades the canyon between us
the one whose voice is perdition
whose eyes are the first espresso after customs
whose hair is an eagle spiralling the updrafts
the one whose throat is Hennessy
whose forehead is the Pacific horizon at dawn
whose loins are stacks of lumber in winter
whose mouth is an oyster in its pearl jacket
the one whose back is Guernica as it hung in exile
whose mind is an advancing hurricane
whose fingertips are the marimbas of Veracruz
whose tongue is a robe of silk crêpe de chine
the one whose spleen is Paris
whose ears are shiitake mushrooms in hoisin sauce
whose breath is autumn in Appalachia
the crook of whose elbow is a cove of pretty fishes
the nape of whose neck is borzoi and she-wolf
whose toes are The Moonlight Sonata
whose chest is Vesuvius across the bay
whose shoulders are the rumor of armistice
whose gaze cascades the canyon between us
the one whose voice is perdition