Has No Kinsmen

Preparations

30 Preparations from The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung 1 Flowers oF Cinnabar alchemy—the sun-bathed widow making arrangements at the door. Lake salt, arsenolite, oyster shells—the rough rain not pounding, but tender on this sodden stretch. medicine, rough rain, these feet. Red bole, soapstone, white lead— your imaginary steps, walking the sodden stretch. The verb: preparing, steps on steps. When a peasant acquires a ceremonial red bow, he uses it to hunt birds. in these preparations you find me, feral, hunting the sodden stretch. 31 2 anD 3 Divine Cinnabar The metallic turn, the lunge toward preparations. she carries the salad dressing, refrigerates the weeping greens, smears the soles of her feet. oral, abandoned. arrangements lunge past. Preparing the golden infinitives: to cross, to step. Thirty-six days of resealing every unwritten word. This wood and green beneath my feet. studying the hemlock, the poisonous smear. 32 4 reverteD Cinnabar Not here, but the 320 aD of China, i obey you obeying phoenixes. medicine: the hemorrhaging word. if i can be drawn out or stretched like a skin, i will prolong my mouth, taste the dead. 33 5 Gustatory Refrigeration—the weeping greens. The lust of preparing the plate. Thirty days of walking around the yard. my knotted hair tangled, torn. a Chinese august: drips, watering the attentive root. What comes back in your place is something slain by the sun on the fractured deck. something unlike heat. 34 6 reFineD The interruption of words: unlearned, elegant. Not a phoenix now, but a red-winged blackbird. mercurial, fluid. Only on hearing thunder and lightening does one realize the weakness of signal drums. When a woman acquires a husband, she uses him to hunt birds. in these preparations you find me, widowed, preparing the sodden stretch. ...