Let me stretch my mouth wide /
as a summer afternoon /
and say it loud, say it sticky /
say the days and their yellow hands / and the air so open / you could walk inside it

I haven’t seen my mother’s face
in a while/ too much empty in the house
/and everything is so heavy these days
/ including her head and her hands

We sat together in the country
where men like us can sit together
like this.

A seed that gave birth
to a legacy worth each bruised
palm from each time you lose
your grip
& fall to roots or feet,
bare feet.

She tempts / death & leaves me, her mistress in the stands, / silk handkerchief between my teeth.