Green marbled love
of the world, watery blue
promise of eventual solvency,
you went with me everywhere
before I even detected slight
syncopations in the blood,
before the soft spot in the curve
of beaten silver began to harden,
taking one shape as it tightened
its grip on my arm. I almost
did not listen: I clung
like a stubborn idea
to the heaving body
of the horse which rose
out of the river and mist
to bear me through
to the other side— And still
I don’t recognize this world
completely, but I give it permission:
I let the marsh birds and mosquitoes
take apart my name, I let the gnats
draw small haloes around my ankles.