1
when the eyes go bad
it’s time to see the years
thru unstitched mouths
where once her miner’s cap
found walls of caves & wombs
marked w/green ground
and darkness breeding
shadows
even then
she knew raptures of dust
cast lines of doubt
& failed words
& grandmother’s ancient script
was nothing more
than a poor demolition
of skyscrapers & sea
where once the ground held
a dimmer shadow of mother & her mother’s mother
now grandmother’s voice sails
beneath a river of stone
as her breath opens & closes
2
when we were little girls
the niceness found its way
into the stiches of our mouths
never knowing what was
before us
we took for granted
the feeling of grandmother’s shoulder pads
never
seeing
before us
our rights
dismantled
and after us
the invisible growth
on her forehead—
the cancer before its time
3
the girl knows
she knows everything
the stone.
the door.
the mansion.
the Prince.
the father
the father
the father
the girl knows
she knows everything
as high as the sky
her ceiling grows
she knows what her grandmother knows
she knows what her aunt & mother & sister know
wherever they are
b/t the living & the dying
they move across water
reflecting the photograph
she will share with them—
the shadows—
she knows where to find them
their taste has been in her mouth
her whole life
the fog on windows—
that is her breath
like fiberglass they shred the air
of her distinction
they mimic her will
they postulate her authority
they shear her hair
curl her limbs
burn her majestic presence
her enshrined jewel of soul
her perfumed hollow
4
the doors of the mansion shut
the ceiling becomes the four walls
becomes the floor
becomes a replica
against the skyscraper
scraping the ceiling of the sky
in the dark that hides the shadow
grandmother holds
a frozen stick of gold
the girl tastes the shadow
bites the darkness
& like a mouthpiece eternal
she witnesses
& witnesses
& witnesses
the mystery of grandmother
astride the world
5
when the eyes go bad
grandmother walks in the river
beneath the silence of stone
and the taste of shadow