Supplication with Rabbit Skull and Bouquet
by Kaveh Akbar
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take me by the elbow
can you see the bones left in my ear our messiahs are blowing us kisses from heaven they speak in the continental longhand the doubt between us hangs like a moon there is no such thing as certainty the spell cast in the night was just a hard wind your cup is still full of poison whose blood is this on the bedsheets not that cross I’m thankful for your beaded carapace I am a grown man excuse the buttery light haloing my head I lack money can you help me with any of this you have swallowed so much already the fire under my bed is quiet as a fossil I trust completely whatever’s in your body visit me at home where ghosts will watch us from the closet |
take me by force can you see the boy’s name cut in my bark our messiahs are hopeless and modern they speak only in our sleep the doubt between us stickies up our tongues there is no such thing as sorcery the spell cast on your cup was just a heap of words your cup was never there at all whose blood is this on the cross not any cross you know I’m thankful for your yellow pills I am growing into my science excuse the rabbit skull crunching in my teeth I lack sexual preference can you help me shrink back to a dainty mouth you have swallowed even my bouquet of corn and straw the fire under my bed is simple as a bed I trust completely whatever’s in your pockets visit me at home and pin your money to my skin |
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Kaveh Akbar founded and edits Divedapper. His poems are forthcoming in Tin House, Poetry, FIELD, Georgia Review, and elsewhere. His debut full-length, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, is forthcoming with Alice James Books in early 2018, and a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic, will be out with Sibling Rivalry Press in early 2017. Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently lives in Florida.