Gone & Gone

Border Reports

24 Border Reports You remember the first time I told you about the dark needle’s turning & the need to hold it fast to the ground you were wearing a shirt so thin the rain treated you like paper. You were crouched in the shed where the wires traced a halo like the beginning or end of the world & the rain torching beyond the wick of a candle that couldn’t have been there. You had your hands over your ears, there was still the cackling & strutting of roosters underground. It felt good there, the aroma of dung & din like a battle I had missed. I always loved history; you kept saying you were hungry, hungry & what were we doing there? I told you about the compass of desire & its restless burning after & still you held the blankets so tight around your feathery body that to keep us from lifting I wish I had given you a sword. I wanted to come to you then or carry your limitless weight down to the barrier. But you were waiting for a horseman & aching. ...