Historical Fiction
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say you carried your candlelight
say you carried your candlelightat mid day meal tomorrowtell yunger yours was the window into the dark the cave dark inside of the predawn lined with velvet black velvetsay you know the hand that carries the nightcarried the dying of the fire in the fireplace and the firelightin the windows of the duke’s manor house… Continue reading
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when the story in the book
when the story in the bookbefore the first verse in genesis is staged in your room and you are blindstrike flint on steelspurt sparks into your charcloth saturatethe rag with fireglowthe candle wick dippedin embers the creation of candlelight Continue reading
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when you wake
when you wakeblind as you do at every dusk of nightin the hours before sight dimsinto your room through the windowin your dormitory in every cellin every feather filled bag of bed your friendsclassmates peers with their hands feelfind the tinderbox you took to your bedand the short thread in tallow dippedand dipped a hundred… Continue reading
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tomorrow when the sun is still in its seed
tomorrow when the sun is still in its seedbefore the seed cracks and the first lightsprouts then spreads like a sudden vinetoward dusseldorf and cologne tomorrowremain blind as a mole ratthough the voice of the nightjarrestores your hearing and the song of the robin cures your senses remain blinddusk yourself back into dreamdusk yourself deaf… Continue reading
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when they cease to be your friends
when they cease to be your friendsit begins when they wake your daily companions the changebegins one morning the firstmorning after the annual season returns they waketheir lives dressed in silks and velvets embroideries abandoned and in their sleep smocks and in the woolen breeches of workers they go out of their roomswhen the oat… Continue reading
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the prince’s mother
the prince’s motherthe elector’s widowjohann of brandenberg who’sappointed regent over saxonyhe adores herand his adoration tolerateswhat proclamations she issues from dresden Continue reading
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you learn solitude
you learn solitudeyour classmates all are like older unclesi haven’t read anywhere that the soul has shutters that swing open nor have i heard anywherethat it has doorsyour peers when they strolluphill the street to market squaredown lane through the meadowwhen they wade from the grassshores of the elbe into the shallowswhen the light of… Continue reading
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these two fingers
these two fingersi asked that you place themhere on your wrist like thisyour liver turnsyour banquet into blood i saidit ebbs upriver through your arteries to your heart i askedif you could feel it ebb from your heartupstream through your veinsyou said you couldyour heart’s in good health i saidnow you sayit’s not that heart… Continue reading
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with nora removed
with nora removedby a dialect for every fingerand by another for every toegone to antwerp to learn to speak a dutch you don’t understandi asked that you remove your shirtand barechested lieface up and flat backed to the flooryour eyes became a mouththey uttered that i’d cursed in my supplications as i prayed to slice… Continue reading
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i hear that you’ve sworn to abdicate
i hear that you’ve sworn to abdicatefrom your scholarship here at this university to walk awayfrom the vacation of your dormitory from the evacuationof your fortunes from wittenberg the weekly assembly gathers mondaydeparts from the town at dawn i want shame to creep heat blushup your neck into your faceas you walk across the empire… Continue reading
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