reverse perspective of stage-left
exit chorus / exit the wounds that birthed our daughters / exit bright lights, lamp lights, and mirages / exit her lip / exit her / exit the wet pavement as the wet seeps through our socks / exit the brittleness of a father’s beard / exit a mother, stage left / exit bottled beans, stage center / exit, stage left, her upper lip / exit the mirage of her lip / enter chorus / exit missing noblemen discovering fire / enter bright lights / enter our socks / exit a sleeping child / exit firemen, enter fire / enter, stage right, a brittle beard / enter her / exit a portion of her body / and exit her body / enter the lips that sing the chorus / exit, stage upper, the wound that licked the chorus / enter the chorus, with eyes crocheted, open and entered
qu’est-ce que c’est
all these mouths slightly ajar / we reach out and notice the texture until we halt / we are used with palms pressed / used from the hips up / and purchased from the hips down / and then, all these mouths slightly ajar / oranges and reds and sometimes only reds / we reach until the rest of us is missing / a pause and the lights fade / a series of clothed mouths / and place the velvet near where we go missing / missing in deserted salt flats / missing outside our neighbor’s flat / missing and our chests expand / missing and our mouths burst from inside / and these many bodies, singular shades of a missing red
Miriam Borgstrom is the author of the chapbook With Missing Limb (Dancing Girl Press & Studio, 2019). Her recent work can be found at Futures Trading and Otoliths. She resides in Southern Nevada. Find her online at amiareiaam.com.
