Xcp:  Streetnotes: Winter  2003
streetnotes  Winter 2003 xcp

 
 
Naomi Long
 

Walking to Pieces
 
 
 
 
 
Along blood avenues :: globes of hair
swishing in troughs of dirty milk :: some hatted, gelled
others sprayed into spiral beehives ::
the irratic buzz of color-coated beasts
grazing on the sidewalk :: we forget
so easily as we move, legs, the weight
of bodies, the mucous veil :: I :: can’t see
where they, where I, where we :: dutifully
and without thought :: are going :: but
then :: what is a game of chess
without a coronation, without trading a pawn
for a queen :: an aimless jaunt
across a square :: by the end, each pawn
unpieced :: an eye, hand, foot, heart
shivers along the ground until each gives out ::
I mean I give out, I mean I, and eventually :: all

 
 


  (c)Naomi Long 2003


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