Talk the stories of night. That fella there was a dense kiss. Associate of
liminals, name another such intimacy. Galaxy, I showed you my bad side.
So then, was it not worth throatedness? Grant me ruthless access to the
psychological image, discomfortable mercy. Granted, he loved him madly—
All hands fell fair in the fight, as to offer lament—we would not come clean
from this. None of us. Slip trace. Peacemaker, Ankh-ringed, looking down
a bridge. Smug about her room tone: It is not fair to place on you the problem
of audience, it is simply not fair. & so what of it? A curator is but a series of poses.
I will miss what we once were in the aftermath, handsome viper in my garden. He
dares me to forget. We deal in the unseen business, puppets making
puppets of a/ether. Standing here, I have to ask you, on the off-chance no
one else has: you felt the need to carry here this dirt? Pound for pound, no?
Time s hole, no? Ardid spore. There could be no victor. There could be no
forget, taking envy in the terrible beauty distributed. I ll be around. They
picture your hunting eyes—your face of framing. Slip trace. Expression s farce
dance. We did not concern each other. Hardly worth the call, wired to the
wall. In the evasive square, I had hoped we might see past our differences.
What can I say? I m nostalgic for Pan-Africanism & the ozone layer.
Reparations: The Game Show. Gold to bone as you go higher. I ll be around.
Farce slip. Freedom runs its unfinished course. Unsigned elisions,
contractions. Catastrophic how meek I am just waiting. Being who work
makes us! The distance is unbearable, & so the proximate. Breath automatic
singed in a tight grin. Can t fast track the lived. Humidity seeks a window
through which to flee. Steam paints a mirror of drip.
w/ no fore-warning, a dog guards what was once my hallway. He belongs
to no one, himself; this is now where he lives; he stands it w/ his life; snug
where I bury my bone.
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“borrowed image” From S*an D. Henry-Smith’s new collection of poems, Paces the Cage, available now from The Song Cave. Copyright © 2026 by S*an D. Henry-Smith
