after Lois Dodd’s painting “Lifting the Lid, 2014
I left my body in a box
where needs rattled at every turn.
Sky thick fabric, color of fox.
Queen of beech and fern.
Needs rattle at every turn
of river against muddy bank.
Queen of beech and fern
digs holes in the riverbank.
The river against muddy bank,
only an image in my head,
those holes in the riverbank
failures I think I’ve finally fled.
Only an image in my head,
in the world of ticks & clocks,
failures I think I finally fled.
when I left my body in a box.
Published in Water-Stone Review, Fall 2025 issue