base
Raymond McDaniel
perhaps she is beast as rhythm is a beast the sound archived
in the jaw, the tendon stitched there, where the strongest silence obtains do
we not require the sequestered to lock their tongues in boxes of bone until
such time as their will is fit if you cannot tell between
what has been done and what we do thumb and forefinger
cradling the jaw hand cradled to address the jaw finger
and thumb on the binding knots speak now praise
the low sounds the detonation.
© Raymond McDaniel
Raymond McDaniel, native of Florida, currently teaches in the Sweetland Writing Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he also hosts the reading series
at the legendarily independent Shaman Drum Bookshop. He also writes for FENCE
Magazine's "The Constant Critic" -- www.constantcritic.com. He has
work appearing next in "American Letters & Commentary" and his "Murder",
a 2003 National Poetry Series Winner, is forthcoming from Coffee House Press in
August 2004.
|