blob: fef8154c2119eeb3a9739165bc9aca4597590f4e (
plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
|
---
title: 'We played those games too'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...
I saw two Eskimo girls playing a game \
blowing on each other's' vocal chords to make music \
on the tundra. I thought about how \
once we played the same game \
and the sounds blowing over the chords of our throats \
was the same as a wind over frozen prairie. \
We are the Eskimo girls who played \
the game that night to keep ourselves warm. \
I run my hands over my daughter's \
voicebox as she hums a song \
about a seal and about killing the seal and about \
skinning it and rendering the blubber \
into clear oil to light lamps. \
I remember you are my lamp. She remembers \
you although you left before she arrived. \
I can never tell her about you. \
I will never be able to express that taste of your oil \
as we pushed our throats together. \
I will never be able to say how \
we share this blemish like conjoined twins. \
I will fail you always to remember you.
|