Friday, November 29, 2019

Native Residues

Perhaps the face I haven't seen
          is my own—
                              unfamiliar
                    terms
                              have meanings
                    because there's still a chance
they'll reach
          what I already know,
                               which never goes
like ancestral DNA
                               away,
          though the bones have turned to powder,
                     the stories rearranged
on the way
to fit the needs of everyone for
          dissonance
                               and cultivation—
                     the reason for our inefficient
births.