MILLIE JEAN

DEVOTION

I have lost and gained,
gorged and fasted.
Outgrown the rituals,
the desires.
Shed skin
again, again-

in your name.
In the absence of it.
In pursuit of anything
that felt like anything.


Still,
I wince in the mirror.

Still,
I touch myself.

Still,
I press my fingers
into my throat.

Where are you now?


HOSTAS

I am pulling hostas
the deer devoured.

I am thinking
of your skin.

A bomb falls
in our garden-

unearths my heart.

Ugly thing.