A Body is More

Audrey Gorton

than itself, more than the seamless

curve of neck into back, sinews teasing at

taut flesh, the reverant unhingings of a jaw.

More than limbs folding in on

your torso or stretching out to swallow

another's, for most of your body

falls away in sheaths,

sunders and sieves through

spread fingers, seeps into

places past touched. You reside in the contour

of a hipbone, amid strata of rock. You take

linen naps in shirtsleeves. You are 

brewing coffee in the creek. 

Published in Apricity Magazine, December 2023.