Into the Land of Nod
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them
Her smile is a dead end street,
a door opens, snow
skitters across hardwood.
I’m inconspicuously
armed;
we’re not supposed to be here,
not flirting, not during Mass.
I miss the sting,
that sharp bite right before needle
hits groove.
Light bends to her,
I become a long shadow;
her breath evaporates.
Into the Land of Nod
Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden;
and there he put the man whom he had formed
The moon is bullet shaped,
wonder how it might feel
pressed against my temple.
My limbs are pitched, nothing
ever happens here.
She gives me a sideways wink,
her shoulder bumps mine;
wonder what I’m made for,
wonder if it was a day like today
when men stopped believing in God.
Into the Land of Nod
Genesis 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium
and the onyx stone
There are other people’s feelings to consider.
There are saints, traditions, passages with hidden doors.
There are steps and steps and steps and the dry
sharp intake of air when we hold our breath.
She brushes her hair back, touches my hand,
we’re supposed to be recounting our sins;
all I see is the black edge of her bra strap,
all I feel are the ragged edges of the exit wound.