When They Found Her

Maybe, I don't know, a month ago,
I would have described your eyeballs as pretty.
Or come up with a crayon color that matched. But now we'll settle for stone, or leaky stone, or just the color of something far away that I don't know how to pronounce.

I sigh, and now feel used by it.

Haven't you heard
I've spent months building cages for elephants
with all the walls I've been held against.

Still, in the dream where my teeth fall out
you're saying my name in your quiet words.

I blink away nothing
worth mentioning.
holding the silence of a page turning in my throat.

And you, always accepting
nothing, but--
stay with me, this isn't magic, it's malaise and your

fingers are wedged under my back
your tongue turning to softly chant;
light as a feather, stiff as a board
light as a feather, stiff as a board
light as a feather, stiff as a board.