CHORDAE TENDONAE

To draw a line bone to bone
along the front of the throat: move

the name from its closed
word to confuse: sympathy and

confusion touch me: like
this to confuse the sense but not

the feeling: to sympathize
my piece of skin with its undersong:

say heartstrings and list as
you graze them: they keep the door

in place: move your hand across
the sacrum: cup an unspelled word

between touch and telling
fingers trace the strings: sympathize

their job: that tender pass
aches between water and its shape

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SOLSTICE

I have a friend who capitalizes
Always: why must I on

silent days describe how it feels
to breathe: how the last day

feels before it breaks in the cold
for all the slowly breaking

cold: the piece we keep on such
a day: on the hinge of all

changing days someone else's
fire: far away I want

to know the why for why I reach:
why do I hold my breath

& hold so much: & listen for
the catch: not because

the glowing holds but by that
light we kneel: & show

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