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A Number Of Traces
(January 16, 2023)
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1 /
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There you are again,
Slouched
​
In the comfort of your guilt
And severance
​
What you had maintained for so long,
You still carry with you
​​​
Your mother’s tongue
​Ritual sorrows
Sonnets of centuries
​
The rare sweetness that escapes
From smashed apple seeds
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2 /
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And there you are, still,
Shifting
​
Your sitting position, and feigning
Comfort
​
What you can no longer summon
With ease
You somehow still carry with you
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Your father’s intensity
​​
Amplified elegies
Assemblies for the exiled​
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Familiarity in your ears
​
These sad chantings you attended
For so long
3 /
And again there you are,​
Sitting up
​
Stiff in the back, waiting to leave
Once again
​
Like so many before,​
Times of profound atonement
​
Evenings of solace
You are still coming back to
It’s been so long, you
Constantly leaving
​
A thin string
Always kept with you
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Your brother's shoulders, straight
And relentless
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Among the processions of men​
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Your sister’s collected
And rare seasoned
Tacit insinuations​
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Among the huddlings of women
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Gatherings for the absent​​
Seeds of so long
Smashed between molars
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Sweetness or solace
​
Kept with you​​​
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