When you came
                                into my mouth
         opened wide enough

to forget
                         how to swallow

light: this surrendering

                        the body is my skin

tracing starved beauty
                             in climax: us

lying in the dark
                        shadow of another
     lord: give me your dying

words like father
                              or my tongue

disappearing before
                        you: welík’ipckse
so tell me this

when you’ve forgotten
                                 how to open

your lips into my name—

                           father: which is
another way to say shadow:

failed daylight
                           you say: the sky

touching the body: I
                        find myself entering

a night again wounded
                 enough for the snow—

shined with moon
        —to reorder the stars with
our faces: broken

                through with so many

American mouths: like
                         ghosts singing

the very last bright word they

remember:                      amen.