We could have talked. We could have mixed

our tears seed saliva sweat






We could have combined

book and flesh thought and guilt

Oho! how we might have dissolved ourselves

united as brothers

Yes. As brother and sister: incestuous twins

we could have tested

limit after limit

Shoulder to shoulder brothers ready to face fear at dawn

death that keeps growing and growing life yet to come






Yes. We could have macerated like the hide of wild game steeped in mordant

softened and tamed

by one another

Tears and blood. Flesh and brain. Water and salt

Oho! we could each have liquefied the other

the way hemp disintegrates in the river

the way a body dissolves in pure caustic soda






Yes. I could have caressed you. I could even have

sung you a lullaby

I could have been your refuge. I could have killed you. Yes you-

brother lover child. I could have strangled you

with my own hands. We could have led each other hand in hand

to death

(Death. Impervious refuge. Maternal uterus. Common final placenta)






We could have talked. In another life of ours:

the next