nd of the World
Ode to the E
From here I cannot but peek. From whence we came…
no, for whence we… when we say the word “whence” what
synapses wince. Forever pickling I peek. My steel water
carrier leaks. John fetch a new comb! My hair. Oil.
Wanting to be sleek. Roses are red. Roses are… the
roaches are not as many here—though the stink greater.
How babbling rivers speak, now that they have turned
putrid I see. Out into the air—I peek. From upon where?
We came from another hill. Now, caskets of damp wood:
our sleep. From babies to mothers. Rags. I can’t remember
the blood but I taste metal. The narrator peeks. We are
looking through a tiny hole. Through the woods we go…
to grandmother’s house we… someone mop up the blood,
please. It is slippery here. I have always known this was
coming. The melancholia was in the well water. Cupping
and spooning it. What is it? A pronoun is a handkerchief
of no determined pattern. I used to grab them to catch
my nosebleeds in the forest. Here I can’t see the forest
for the… do you remember trees? Remember what Rose
wanted was… no matter, all we have here is this crate
and the musk of the end. When language dies, we go
with it, muddy and celestial and everything I see I have
only peeked. So I sing. We are too tiny to be sad about
this to be or not to be. I heard one time a wise pig say…
Hakuna Ma... when life gives you lemons… what is it?
Lemon he she we be. It! Give peace a… whence. Live and
let… give yourself to me. Rosewater. The roaches have
become enormous and dead on their backs. Our words
much smaller. Are they more alive this time? I think Rose
wanted peace. Or a piece of it. The barn here is rust.
Metallic on the tongue. Something needs a deep,
fortified cleaning. All this grease. It’s the happiest… no,
the merriest… no, the dustiest place on earth, here where
we can see, and see that we have only peeked.
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet from southern California
who spends her free time hitching a ride to the other
side of maybe. Her work has been published in The
Subterranean Quarterly, Chapparal, Cadence Collective
and Cease, Cows, among others. You can follow her on
Twitter @fancifulnance.