Dust Bowl

after Kansas, 1935

a silverfish thrashes in gloam,
half-dappled. mother kneels to baptize
it; light girdles her like a noose.
scattered & raw, we gift nourishment
to chasm-like mouths. mother blurs
into miraged warmth, fire-bred
& displacing us; lightning
unfastens the sky. we dress ourselves
in mud & hold an unfinished baptism.
heat daggers through us.

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