the angels balanced on the waxed horsetail of her bow, and the violin cried
My crooked spine is
An untuned organ
Knotted fibers of
Ivory tusks
Keys blackened by ash and
The light that unveils them
They, hidden in the shadows and
Kneeling under Jacob's eye
A ladder cast
Ascending for forgiveness
And bent by
My scoliosis weight
My prayer curved by
Shoulder blades
Erupting with
Wings tattered and yellow
Stained feathers plucked and
Spanning too wide
For my set heavy'd
By befallen steps
The weight of charisma
In a dogmatic seance
Unearthed and lurking
With its iridescent flesh
Ricocheting the echo
Of a bird's last call
And sleep eludes me
As I pace back to the beginning
To the edge of the shore
Picking at their eyes
Sealed shut with sand
And my unkempt nails
Are dirtied by the truth
But cleansed
By the same
In glory.
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