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Songs for the Extinction of Winter
Rob Cook

THE NEOLITHIC

Because I was only learning

to see, it took months

 

for you to show me

where your hand curled

into a snail

 

the electricity scratching

across your nerve sky

 

contrails that keep you awake

 

You’ve written their history

and the names

 

for the laughter between Demerol

 

and the time it took me

to put your shards together

and see you

 

because I was too angry

to wear contact lenses

 

the years I walked around

and didn’t know what a person

looked like

 

and so I dressed and lived

as a man from the days

before sun

 

following the storm-lights

through your arm,

 

past the trees of hot iron

 

past the stone soldered

on the way to the ends

of your fingers

 

where I watched you

over and over

in the planet’s thin early air

 
 
 
 

 

 
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