A g i t a t i o n s
 
The blade is getting more efficient.
The crowd has stopped playing cards.
Have courage, my love.
Time will set you free.
Could you endure such torture,
Such unrequited red-hot desire?
Is this not a blessing
Against the paralyzing poison,
The slow stretching noose,
The crawling fire of me?

Where are the heliotropes
Pressed into cards,
Candy hearts melted in candles?
Where is the calligraphy
That makes art of your name?
Were is the pornography
Whispered to sleepy flesh?
The code word that breaks the spell?
Hieroglyphs in the trunks of trees
That foretell the volcano,
The end of dinosaurs?
The dexterity of human hands
Fashioning rocks into hasty blades
Beyond the old fashioned crushing of bones?

The blade is polished clean.
Does it comfort you to see your face
Soldier calm in a lamb white shirt?
Perhaps you will dream
Some variation of that night
Some cool shade of blue forgiveness,
A slight loosening of your hands
From my collapsing throat,
Some secret surrender, spy to spy.

I'll cut my hair, you'll get violet contact lenses.
Let's never speak our old language again,
That tone of voice that brings on such troubles,
Confessions before the guillotine.
I'll plant foxglove and hawk's beard
By the sandbox where nothing grows.
We'll buy that Italian restaurant
Where the wineglass shattered on the table
Punctuating your passive-aggressive question
The night you pretended to lose
Our maiden game of chess.

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