07 December 2005

like ray carver's daughter


"you're grown-up, now, and lovely.
you're a beautiful drunk, daughter.
but you're a drunk."
-- raymond carver

when the world falls apart,
you settle like dirt
to the earth of your life.
what happens, dad,
when the world falls apart?

i drink like a fish, daddy,
and i know you were not
like yeats, you never wished
me plain. my eyes burn green
and dark, and nightly, i

pour myself into poisoned
waters, embracing snakes
wrapped round my waist
like a dress of sinuous death.
i don't want to wreck

this liver so tenderly built,
don't want to break
these bones cast
in the milk of love,
don't want to wring dry

the red river of blood
that has become my heart.
but i have, again, fallen apart.
my insides tear paper over and over
like a quiet rush of trees.

posted by ama at 2:22 PM 0 comments