Peter Ciccariello

 

Écorché


It is useless to study;
I cannot know you,
The thing for the thing.
Who you are is to foreshadow

The very effort to understand;
And who you are not
Can not hope to reveal
That hidden, fundamental, essence.

That I can only glimpse
Rather than duplicate
The fleeting somewhere
Of your outward appearance,

Revealing the thinnest skin you slip behind,
That diaphanous pleat of self
Remaining the last inward armor
Of your most temporary being



you want


you want
the cool corner of the bed sheets
you want this and that
the toast well done the way you like it
the yolk not quite firm
you consume
you leave nothing
there is nothing left
you want such and such
you want her shadow between
the soleus and the gastrocnemius
you get and you want more
and more
you stand up you sit down
you sleep and sleep some more
again and again you want
until there is nothing left
until there is no difference between
a strand of her hair and a cloud
passing in the sky
until there is no difference
yet still you want



 


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