amulet against your only body
Maia Elgin
I
follow the gas lamps
in the hushed grey-green
of the early
the everyday is
hooded
the everyday is shrines
fog rises
leeches on the
path
swelling-hour
come to the ring
pale faces bodies like steel
run backwards
you’ve left
breadcrumbs
II
under the mulberry trees
a good day’s work
the ascent
and the chill
pass the old stone bridge
pillars
inebriated insane
how many
minutes
can you count
underwater?
turning turning
adrenaline and
the old dull ache
every shape
the moon the moon
drawn unhalted in a breaking
III
undo the knots
this work the work the gentle
giving of time
unbind you to yourself
to the green
crack open the sternum
the polished ivory within
to the green
to the fullness and a body
of smoke
expanding
light fractures
consumes
in a glory of promise
weaving/unweaving
your bones heavy
the day of the carving begins
Maia Elgin
Maia Elgin lives in the Mississippi Delta with her two cats, her dog, and her person. She has a chapbook, The Jennifer, with Birds of Lace. Her work has also been seen in Tarpaulin Sky, Ghost Town, Indigest, and Glitter Pony and is forthcoming in Rhythm of the Bones: Dark Marrow and in Rhythm & Bone's YANYR anthology. An LSU MFA, she is currently an Assistant Professor at Delta State University.