May Swenson

Stop bleeding    said the knife I would if I    could said the cut
Stop bleeding    you make me messy with the blood
I'm sorry    said the cut
Stop or    I will sink in farther said the knife

“Feel me to do right,” our father said on his deathbed
We did not quite know—in fact, not at all—what he meant
His last whisper was spent as through a slot in a wall
He left us a key, but how did it fit

Body my housemy horse my houndwhat will I dowhen you are
Where will I
How will I
What will I

1 A smudge for the horizon that, on a clear day, shows the hard edge of hills and buildings on the other coast
Anchored boats all head one way: north, where the wind comes from
You can see the storm inflating out of the west
A dark ...

Fruit without a stone, its shiny    pulp is clear green
Inside, tiny    black microdot seeds
Skin    the color of
Imagine    a shaggy brown-green pelt    that feels like felt

Beards of water some of them have
Others are blowing whistles of water
Faces astonished that constant water jumps from their mouths
Jaws of lions are snarling water through green teeth over chins of moss...

She sat on a shelf, her breasts two bellies on her poked-out belly, on which the navel looked like a sucked-in mouth— her knees bent and apart, her long left arm raised, with the large hand knuckled to a bar in the ceiling— her right hand clamping...