KA Rees #25 - Bones in a box

Bones in a box

Zero hour with dreams
of escape dreams, eyes closed
the blood pulsing
through veins shooting out patterns
like all the tendons and muscles
in your limbs are stretched to a point
or broken down, rearranging the cellular
to a ghost of the thing.

Can’t remember
how to push a smile—the truth of muscles
refusing to respond, the man continuing
to hover in a sweat
stained shirt; he is used to collecting
smiles. When will he pay
the ferryman with his?

These caliginous shapes take flight, museums
and libraries
in Naples. Of climbing the tower in Pisa.
How to travel
with a pack, a padded shell
across your back.
The length of the twilight hour. Gutting fish
in the off-season in Crete.