Wednesday, January 25, 2017

OCEAN VUONG ~





O C E A N     V U O N G


Threshold


In the body, where everything has a price,
               I was a beggar. On my knees,


I watched, through the keyhole, not
               the man showering, but the rain


falling through him:guitar strings snapping
               over his globed shoulders.


He was singing, which is why
               I remember it. His voice —


it filled me to the core
               like a skeleton. Even my name


knelt down inside me, asking
               to be spared.


He was signing. It is all I remember.
               For in the body, where everything has a price,


I was alive. I didn't know
               there was a better reason.


That one morning, my father would stop
               —a dark colt paused in downpour —


& listen for my clutched breath
               behind the door. I didn't know the cost


of entering a song — was to love
               your way back.


So I entered. So I lost.
               I lost it all with my eyes


wide open.



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OCEAN VUONG
Night Sky With Exit Wounds
Copper Canyon 2016