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All evening my tongue
a manic magician in a submerged metal trunk
unknotting constraint.
My novice contortionist tongue
fixated on the gum’s
suture threads
thin as bakery string, thick as old rope mooring.
They dissolve, the dentist said, without
procrastination
but my jittery tongue has no buds for patience,
can’t savor suspense.
Waking this morning
only sleep is stuck to my teeth
scraggly fibers, whole carefully drawn stitches
dislodged and gone.
Flesh released.
The magician’s second secret—
where did it go.
Art by Daniel Toby Gonzalez
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Denise Bergman’s, THREE HANDS NONE was published by Black Lawrence Press in 2019. She was the editor of City River of Voices, an anthology of urban poetry (West End Press), and author of Keyhole Poems, a sequence that combines the history of specific urban places with the present. THE SHAPE OF THE KEYHOLE will be published by Black Lawrence Press in December 2020.
[av_hr class=’custom’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-fat’ custom_width=’100%’ custom_border_color=’#8f2866′ custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’no’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ admin_preview_bg=”]Nike Sneakers | Autres
