from “Catastophizer”

PHOTO OF A PHOTO OF A DEAR IN THE DUNES

You were born from the light
barricaded inside our nation’s fading grace //
Someone always placing hands on you //
Someone always asking for your throat real
quick / your bright little lunge / your
bloodwarm concussion / your spark-magic
bursting teal in the midst of all this bloodshed
// You stare down the migraine / the
migraine stares back / but only for a minute /
then it coughs & clefts & deadbolts its eyes &
dashes its own skull on the dashboard
into brittle shards of language // Parched &
peregrine / you crush the senators into
irradiated dust / lead dome level punch in the
guts / pangolin with your kevlar up // Slow
dawn peaked with diamond dust & citrus peel
// A cardinal feather broken in hoof-marked
grass // The detonation of yellow wings
from the heart-shaped leaves of the catalpa // The
staunch blood-air of all the white rooms we’ve
just barely escaped // Tacked to the wall: a
photo of a photo of a dear in the dunes //
Tender hands trying / together / because we
are made to blur / to burn / to burr to each
other / made to bold each other / to hold
each other always one more minute
than we should //

“PHOTO OF A PHOTO OF A DEAR IN THE DUNES” from Catastrophizer.
Copyright © 2022 by Adam Fell.
Reprinted with permission of Sixth Finch.