Signatures

Fifteen hundred square miles of sidewalk
between fastened buttons, collar to navel.
A hand drawn up the outline of a neck
and seventy-six hours drawn up
on graph paper. No meticulous speckle
of freckles bleeds through, but unaccepted—

heat eats up the paper to save its soiled
underside, veins and blush sifting iron
through the ink-blots. Masterpiece in spider's pose.

Too severe to turn away, the stencil veered
to the moonlit snow and threw herself
into pieces. Forty perfect necks craned

toward the dark; Sistine hesitancies so sure.
Taken against her last breath to veer
three internal inches to the left—
the stars looked nearly ultra-violet
from these eyes, pinpricks strung over her body—
shards cast about the numbered blue margins.


A formal constraints poem for my poetry class. That class is the best. Passed this out for workshop today! XX