scarecrow

you forget
your name--
you watch it
dismembered--
letter by letter--

it's carcass in
the beaks of
the crows--
it's memory--
a phantom-- weight
of moon light
on your tongue--

walk to
the corner of
the field--

you carry your father's
clothing-- plaid shirt--
jeans-- straw hat--
match-stick head
sun drop--
burn holes in your
forearms--

corn stalk hush--
back porch light
all-embracing this
body-- they
call you 
kindling-- a pile
of wasp bones--
handful after
handful of 
hay down 
your throat--
you eat to forget your
skin--

morning dew soaks
you-- 
saturated face--
you hold frost
in your shoulders--
your kind of fear
surfaces in your
eyes-- stitch over
stitch--

you own a body of 
apprehension--
of isolation
of wordless mouth
of calling beaks--

you dream of beaks--
they snap
your father's cloths 
from your body--

you dream 
match stick sun--
gentle ignition 
of flesh--

you burn-- corn husk
daughter--
Indian corn tooth 
brother--
smile black feather

swallow spoonful of
night--

this night is early
& thick
this night is
a thunderstorm
of black feather
& bird feet 
in mud--

follow foot steps
to the back porch--

smolder & blaze--
you crucifix-spine
man-- 

what have
you done
to watch 
over us today?

have you said
your Our Fathers?
Have you said your
Hail Marys?

Do you know 
each fox by name?
Each hare?

You come down
from your stake 
air thick--
cold feather night--

your spine
of foot prints
& echoing
bird call-- a 
scream repeating
beneath your
father's clothes

you press finger
to mud--
you etch lines
in the dirt 
that never
form a word--

you claw & rake--
desperate
so desperate 
for your name