from his planter box

                   onions, white blooms: dreamlike as

his planter box onions

 

* * *

 

    dogs yell across the

pool: papayas swell, firming

    above hot chlorine

 

* * *

 

           shaking the mayfly

    shaking on my curtain – the

afternoon’s useless

 

* * *

 

my old jar of dirt

would be such a lovely place

for an onion

 

* * *

 

descending for snacks

    at midnight I keep forgetting

to feed my springtails

 

* * *

 

two chickens fuck in

my neighbour’s yard they fuck I

          shake on the toilet

 

* * *

 

smarting on all fours

       behind slats and my sisters

I lope up my stairs

 

* * *

 

  the onions’ shoulders

rub in our kitchen, it’s too

     small, will they cry

 

* * *

 

                  the trees rustling out

    growing mad between houses

don’t know where they are

 

* * *

 

                 soap’s clatter on pots

startles flights of quick sparrows:

our video call hangs

 

* * *

 

the water’s mirror

shines from below but does not

     throw back my scream

 

* * *

 

                  my parents are not

home yet but the lizards plead

just find a cranny

 

* * *

 

      staring through blankets –

the spider in my wall’s notch

         caught no flies today

 

* * *

 

           the evening key turns

in its lock – the small birds flocking

            a window leave

 

* * *

 

mumbling through saying

grace, my family’s eyes all shut –

                bats swoop by, clicking

 

* * *

 

      cutting through onions –

shiny, silly onions, I’ve

no tears left for you

 

* * *

 

      lightning fills a night

cloud – I could scratch until all

      my skin came apart

 

* * *

 

bats over the pool,

wheeling and dipping – I drift,

            cold, backlit, wrinkling

 

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