ALLUVIUM

Kristen Lenea Ryberg

20  #02 From The Catalogue of Missing

ALLUVIUM

                                      ~ to wash against

                            Bells ring ring ring

inside my head     wild teas from roots

wash me

far    back to rust—patina’d

into stillness

                        WAKE UP     wake up      make up

offerings for altars      inside my head

synapses click     a line of stitch

find a thread    a line--------------------

of stitch   

make sweet memory tea

leave the shadow of the dark-knit father

unravelling    

at the kitchen table

his bottle is not empty of chemistry’s

old magic      photos in the basement

 stacked

             under a lid

             that cannot close   chant rattle bones

near the keep for the dog’s leash

hooked to her collar for a walk to the New River

spot a stunned wren on the road  

ink dot eye half closed

she is alive

carried home

hammocked in my skirt.

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