Excerpt from Gutland

.....................all lovers
...........whose mouths were
....................criminal

.................................we have kissed


.....held & gripped the body
....our juxtaposed spines set
...........side-by-side
.......along a prairie’s divide


......crude train tracks of marrow--where nails are
............driven-in, each one deeper, deeper in

.............


.....the horizon line
tapers off into a distant
...............triangle

..............take from me this one source
..of transport, this one flapping strip of sunlight
...............as it splays across my belly


.............................grows thinner as I suck in-----
......................................................hold-----

here you are
& here you will
leave through
a sliver in the door

...................... my last chance to be skeletal
......................... ---------anonymous