four ages
one sateen red eyes
a red bonnet
two green eyes
spring black hat
near pink bow
one boot
three yellow heads
snip a hook nose
fall the womanly breast
four humpbacks
under black eyes
mustachioed
and a purple cape
the night in St. Cloud
no eyes have
the cherry red
light of a cigarette
from a top hat
shadowed in the corner
near a window
where the boat
on the Seine
lights its own
rouge heat
an inheritance
the child’s chest
is dotted red
and the holding mother
folds her handkerchief closed
& nearer her chapping
mouth, embroidered
her cheeks flush
the skirt twitches
coughs, decorated
with wan black ladybugs
or festering flea whores
onto the child
she bleeds
see this mother needling,
hemming round sateen red
up and down
she hacks
onto her bed
and her hands
and into the mouth
of this newborn.
Lisa Jarnot / melissa christine goodrum / L. Sze / Michael Whalen / Matt Reeck / Drew Baughman / Napoleon Id / Britni Jackson / Nicole Steinberg / Kelly Matthews / V.L. Bond / Ed Go / Katy Resch / Chip Livingston
