susan jennings

milk

The resuscitation
of chalky bones,
a spindly frame, inert
(crushed)
begins -
Drained dusty entrails are almost
pulsing
again
(more cautiously, at first)
The whole thing is so
evanescent, evaporable
(fragile)
But surely enough, tender skin-covering
reweaves across the broken
sticks
And when the limbs are working again,
they pull you close
And cold, brittle lips licked hot again
brush your flesh for nourishment
drinking long, suckling
(we're so thirsty)
thus dry, chalky bones abandoned once
find a wet forest to call home:
We dive in.


8/1994