MY ARMLESS BROTHER’S ARMBONE SOUP
TASTES LIKE LOVE, REFLECTED

like salt
or footsteps in cement,
like cans of paint or guilt
rusted in the shed, like mint
and abstinence, sap fresh-bled from trees,
bacitracin smeared along the cut
for its antiseptic qualities
or simply put
direct upon the heart,
which, when caught in certain lights,
combusts and flies apart,
like rhubarb, or the night’s
remains; like bear traps rusted open long,
like song

*

like song
remains, like bear traps rusted open long,
like rhubarb, or nights
combusted, flown apart,
which, when caught in certain lights,
direct upon the heart
(or simply put
for its antiseptic qualities)
bacitracin smeared along the cut,
and abstinence like sap fresh-bled from trees,
rusted in the shed, like mint
like cans of paint or guilt
or footsteps in cement,
like salt

   first published in Many Mountains Moving