THREE Poems

Charlotte GEATER

the hooting hooting &
wooing wail. she sings, she wails, she sings &
she wails & she sings, hersing with one
heart. she sips from the cup,
hersing & laughing with delight. the sky shines
with the moon in her eye
& she sips on the sweet milk in her tongue
while she is in the valley of her mouth

whence comes it? from the
flowering of wheat in the springtime
to the blistered hand of grapes
in her
fall? from the milk in her belly
to the honey of nose in her mouth?

a lark ascends, she sings, she wails, she sings & she wails &
she sings & sings, singing alone, singing on her tongue in
both her ears. where is the sun?
she has yet to see, only the stars.

the light shines in her belly, she sighs and quails
in her heart, & she is hidden in your breast. the stars were
bright & the night grew dark around the sun. it was in a
small room

that he had found a lamp. he made light with the help of a torch
& sat on an old stone, whereon they lit the room & he sat &
he sang on

the kit-fox, a chit, a baby chaton
kitling jet fur, merlin held the
tigerkin milky
mottled babble
baby
crying its damp heart out
wet from the river / hot mouthed //
alive

out here, cold / the baby crying
in fear of the wolf's claws
buttercup, cuckoo, daffodils

cut throat, cutthroat, cutthroated

the sky is always green with rain
and the night feels dark / light never gets in
i used to read the bible by candlelight

i used to make our house an abode
i used to look at the sky and say, “goodnight from hell.”

i’m afraid to go out into the world,

but i don’t need a world.

i’m better off without them

dancing
all
night
long