I'm the reason
your son is getting fat
I am everything
you wouldn't want for him
Older, poor, uneducated
white, American
What kind of future
can there be between us?
Every meal I cook for him
and we eat together
has the deep down secret
that you do not know about me
I cannot speak your language
Would you like me better
if I could?
He's far across the sea
letting a foreign woman
fatten him up
and love him
He told me once
that before he left home
you told him to be a good boy
You don't know
that he has been kinder to me
than anyone in my life
How can I thank you
for making him who he is?

I dreamt I lured a man to the countryside
to betray him
I dreamt I got a call from my mother
telling me my father was dead
He'd been caught
sleeping with the wives
of other men
His throat was cut
I had a hard time hearing her
over the line
I've never met my father
She hung up
without saying goodbye
I looked out
over the rolling green hills
the sunset
and sheep
I think I was a spy
and maybe I was going
  to ****** that man
I took him to this farm
and told him this was the place
of my youth
and then my mother called
interrupting my mission
to say my father was dead
He was getting out of bed
and his throat was slit
I didn't grow up in this place
and I can't remember
why I needed to betray
this man

I am taking off my hand
like a glove
and leaving it
on your little table in the hall
for you to find
as though I forgot it
in my breezy exit
I won't be able to
touch anything
until you return my hand
I never leave anything behind
I never make mistakes
without complete intent
without a significant charade
Think to yourself,
what a silly thing,
she's left her hand behind,
I must get it back to her

I am Eve
and I will always eat the fruit.
You can tell me I can go back,
you can tell me I can forget my nakedness,
forget the cold,
and still,
I will eat the fruit,
I will have the knowledge.

I love you, John the Baptist
I love you, Saint Sebastian
I want to be the blades
that slice and pierce you
and martyr you
lovingly
Securing the fame
of your spirit
with the sweet and holy
suffering
of my touch

Metal wrought of man
I am a woman
in the shaft of an arrow
my heart in the sharpened head
glinting
entering your skin
Sweet Sebastian
exposed to me
I am inside you

The axe and the axeman
obeying the command
to end your life
John the Baptist
A girl wants your head
but I'll have it first
I'll kiss the nape
of your neck
forever

Elegant teeth
of the wolf
caressing
flesh as pale
as teeth

I am enthroned any place that I sit
Hedgewitch queen
Anointed by the dirt on the soles of my feet
Briars scratch my arms and cheeks,
Lovelier than silver chains
Wandering queen
I claim every place I step for my kingdom