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i’d walk over the waves like galilee was a sodded plain
i’d walk over the waves like galilee was a sodded plainthe sun- risen morning of the last day i’d open like shutters and stride through the division in judgement robesafter the last day i’d raise my hand and blessthe wafer i’d raise my hand and bless the wineand by the holes rusted into the palms…
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before you fold
before you foldthat parchment into a padlockslit a keyhole into the end that’sunfolded with a pen knife or a scissor cutfrom the bottom of the letter a parchment keyshort in height and wide in width a triangle
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i wish he’d taken that to hamlet
i wish he’d taken that to hamlet or to claudiushe’d brought them his dreams that woke him from his drowse nodded watchthere was something of young hamlet’s father marcellus dreamt the king from an afterlife claimedorestes had come to denmark he declared an apparition wandered the house of his sleepthrough the hallways of imaginationan apparition…
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no an old man’s cold love
no an old man’s cold lovewritten to warm the furrow of a fertile maidit always failsit’s undesiredinstead let me writewhat ophelia read from hamlet’s letter write doubt that the stars are fires doubt that the sun moves doubt the truth claiming liars but never doubt that i love young hamlet had a talent to speak…
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a prince and the son of a nobleman
a prince and the son of a noblemanone for six french swordsand one for six barbary horseswielded foils in their gauntletsfor the copper blondedaughter of the house of fugger wielda goose feathernightly dip the quill in the inkwellbetween the folds in the parchment writethe east shinesand radiant are theseas and the continents thatso briefly face…
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fold three folds in a sheet of
fold three folds in a sheet ofparchment on the table in your chamberlike a chambermaid folds a bedsheetlengthwise in the middleand in both middles between the middleand the edges to the left and to the rightin the eveningbefore your day’s last thought comes and goes to sleep with you foldthe page like a servant girl…
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ask nora if you can watch
ask nora if you can watchher unbind the ribbons unwindif you can watch her unbraidask if you can describe her hair as gold spuntell her the sky’smade of filaments of flaxen metalthat it’s rooted in her headthat out of her scalp growsgilded heaven askif you can watch her hair fallcascade down the length of herlike…
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your offering of wine poured
your offering of wine pouredout the window into mudreturn by the lane through the wheatfieldwith hands takensand skinned from the plow pull strawswith fingers takencallous skinned from the sickleweave a basketreturn to the vineyardfrom the grapevinewith a knife sharpened on a field stone cut a clusterdrop it in the basket like a baptist’s headreturn to…
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build a house to nora
build a house to noracall it a temple she’ll becomeinannaishtaraphroditemagdeleneput her hand in the hand of the shepherdin the hand of the groomin the hand of the priest to the temple
Jake's Flea Market 