Beasts stewed in the boiling, and sage,
bubbles of fat, rough arrows of bone—
onions peeling into pearls, and
pearled-grain fallen to soak.
Rub the bones over, and wrap them down,
smell the smoke hunched in a ball
on your palm; ash on the pillow,
crumbs on the stairs,
the straw of the broom, and
ropes of mop that went
scattershot on a kitchen floor.
-2003
