DEVON WOOTTEN


                                     



[THERE’S THE FEAR. KNOBBY-DARK & SLICKED—]




There’s the fear. Knobby-dark & slicked—
                                                                   runed &
searing.
             Here’s what patience wrought...

                                                                is how I’d start—
all atremble—

                       for you and for the taste of you

there were and were and O, shade-borne,
speak of those I favor, those whose mouths

are swelled with names are swelled, jeweled-over,
each a pearl, each a mother...

                                             for were you not
bereft
          & were you not besotted...

yes and yes and those who haunt us hold us close
as portents to our restless minds—
                                                       dearest,
thin me out—
                       dearest, I am clotted and dull,

thickened ’round the barest of signs.

If not a child, a flood, a fiery host,
then aster, star, stern recompense.






TYPO 30