Judith

even if the third time he betrays me
I am still devote to flesh
and whisper prayers in skin

he has no arms
and I have no heart
through our eyes
galaxies explode and form
in subtle fringed blinks

with messiah hands
I cradle organs
for I am the organ grinder
and spit his name
in acrid dust
which jumps to life
to march to the standing gate

he tells me to lay still
to accept the offering
of the burden
of my sex

us who stumbled
and opened the box
misery tapping at our ribs
covering our thighs in slick blood

he betrays me
offers me to saints
unhinges his jaws
to swallow the right whole

he has cursed my serpent lovers
wrecked havoc on my head
plucked the strings where my heart should have been
and crushed my hands with a rock

in a booming voice
he tells love to enter slavery
cripples me at the dawn
hangs me from the highest crooked tree
for all the glassy denizens to see

ruthless is my tongue
across the expanding times
I have lived one thousand lives
in the burning moonlight
and howled through pointed teeth

I am mother to monsters
and at his touch
I am born the evil of existence
at his betrayal I am snarling
and snapping
at soft hands that grip me

I have a mouth full of tiger-striped moths
eyes brimming with black salt
and hands twisted around a lost promise
in betrayal I am open
a rushing fracture in the world
calmly I crack all the doors
and bare my breast in the name of storms

he needed me
dipped his fingers into my flesh
twisted me
sang my tapping little song
and stole my innocence
in his image
I am reborn in demonic sugar
and have called all the world
to my now crippling song

for I have seen the Truth
and know its taste
as bitter as unripe pomegranates
and twice as vile
as sacred wine