A Physics of Desire
at first she thinks the attraction does not
fill her with enough blood , but
with a thing like the dove — White and coloured
feathers — Bones unlike her own
bones that gravity can’t pull down , a milky thing
unlike the seas . Fills
her with a wind — Starch rustle of the quick
passing of things , then silence afterwards
of the things that passed — that gave the wind
its sound , not unlike what split
the fireworks in the high school park into fanning particles
of flame . The peacock that is the world , bird
of breathing colour between them — Bird
that is everything to choose from — or the one thing ,
sacred bone of the particular —
Copyright Credit: Annah Sobelman, “A Physics of Desire” from In the Bee Latitudes. Copyright © 2012 by Annah Sobelman. Reprinted by permission of University of California Press.
Source: In the Bee Latitudes (University of California Press, 2012)