.                                                                ­            WNTR, o
                                                          
                                                                ­  the     earth


                                                                ­  is how long

                                                               ­                           
                                     ­                                                      )in you?

                                                           ­       crisply perhaps

                                                        ­          stiffmuscling die erected
                                                         ­         foal trees. Barely skinned

                                                        ­                       ,

                                                              ­                    .

                                          ­                                           '

                                                              ­                     .

                                                              ­                 ,

                                                              ­                      .

                                        ­                                                 '


                                                             ­                       .
                                        ­                                           H
                                                               ­                  e   A
                                                               ­                     V
                                          ­                                       y with
                                                            ­                 light dying
                                                           ­                of    shadows
                                                   ­                  )between

                                                       ­                             o
                                  ­                                             WNTR
                                                            ­              i skip a penny
                                                           ­                    across
                                                          ­          Bu
                                                    ­              g e
                                                               ­  yed june

                                                           ­                        (Ag
                                                             ­                        irl inn

                                                            ­                      ot enough
                                                          ­                   clothing


                                                      ,cuz it was june o lord it was so hot i could feel my sweat across the

                                                       palm of each hand go slick like oil across the cool common pinch
                                                       of the fuzzed in ***** tinter grass.

                                                       i o and uncurling stiffly went like the shoots off of roses: topaz
                                                       i went red like the bitten ******
                                                       of girl tingling
                                                       unchastely
                                                      ­ snowless hips
                                                       )without WNTR which
                                                        sof­t of hard
                                                        and hard of itch
                                                        itch­
                                                        and     ­                     itch
                                       ­                (in WNTR to please
                                                        re­move me my health
                                                        an­d barely skin me
                                                        a foal tree

                                                           ­                      untwitching

Sometimes I dream that I am being hunted;
a wild rabbit
frantically and narrowly
escaping death
At every irregular turn.

The hunter is shapeless,
nameless,
faceless;
an amorphous enemy
lurking in the foggy haze
of my unconscious terror,
stalking my every panicked move
with an untwitching, cold gaze.

I want to stop running,
the blade grows closer;
I want to turn around,
my breath becomes sharp and jagged;
I want to know who you are.

I awake in a cold sweat,
gasping for thin air.

What a thrill
to have escaped your knife
yet again.