Joshua Marie Wilkinson

 

 

 

The Book of Falling Asleep in the Bathtub & Snow

 

        An inky spot

on your heart

slowly folds in on itself.

 

 

            ***

 

This is the part where the mice

climb onto the boys

& the boys

fall

    asleep standing.

 

 

            ***

 

My letter lured

you into the yard

 

with

a smudged wind

turning your coat black.

 

 

            ***

 

What cry moves you more than its scent?

 

The dock lodged in

milfoil & ice.

 

 

Under the saltfog moon.

 

 

     

            ***

 

Came to

with an anvil

in your arms like a baby.

 

 

 

             ***

 

I count up the proof in your eyelids.

 

I can make the math work.

 

                                   

            ***

           

I know six & a half songs & the chorus

to a seventh,

& if my voice weren't inside

my brothers I would sing something

                           through you.

 

 

            ***

 

Their game required them to remove

their jewelry

                        & shoelaces.

 

 

 

The neighbor girls' forearms were cut

in the meadow of goldenrod.

 

 

            ***

 

Sounds of the little horses wobbling up

in the mold-scarred straw.

 

 

Boat ladder tied to

your back,

the damp ropes

around

your waist.