FROM THE WOODLANDS
When the flood comes
we will be on our phones
searching for how to
save ourselves when
the flood comes we
will be in the car
at night when the
flood comes I’ll tell
you about walking
through the subway with
my dress tucked into
my underwear and the women
who called out to me honey, honey
and I will know your middle
name I forgot to ask
sooner when the flood
comes how will anyone
know we were laughing
the way wheels cut
through a creek that’s
swamped its old banks
and now swallows
the whole street
even though we’re
on a hill and the splash
rises higher than the roof
when the flood comes
I try to remember
what Medusa was really
like as a woman aside from
the snakes and ossification
and I think it was something
about rage but you
don’t know me well
enough to know
what snakes are in my head
and what they eat and when
the flood comes we can
climb on top of the car
or wait for total submersion
if we aren’t on higher
ground when the flood
comes we could tell more
secrets when the flood
comes the snakes
in my hair will apologize
to each other for acting
so mean and will return
to the sluice and out
of my head when the
flood comes everything
will be clear and you will
know you will know
you will know
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