k a t    f i n c h

 
 

& in Dream


Dear ______, A Bomb is Not a Quick Death








































& in Dream
 

& in dream          & in dream we wind-
swept as always in & in dream the missing     was
     not absent          not stone walking     amidst ourselves
ourselves & one     another the howling silent
makes us kindred          spirits nothing makes us
     kindred spirits     spirits kindred & dreams walking out
nothing makes the golem          & in dream my dream          missing
became to mean         to go to     go & release     wrong
     in a changed manner          become regret & in dream
regret begets the changeling          the fortification of
wind to scream          phantom the golem the fact     in io-
     dine     remember the     night     & dark the
mare the walking the dream          walking dream is paramount is king
is the thaw come kith and kith          & night & kin-
     dred spirits     the mud is sewn          a being without
fact     a being a fact the apart          the limb the mouth of & wind
without     the limb to you     & you are not listening with
     out & you will always     will be phantom will always scream
will always will     & in dream you          have not been known
to go missing to go     but not known          not known your limb is
     to have been killed or killed          or captured     legacy &
in dream     not present     after a battle     this mouth a
shapeless form          from shape the mud the limb     it
     to it i it we     it the it of it     the golem the wind the limb
of it become of it       a battle spirit spirit & you the walk
the dream say     mare say night say mare-night saw it
     it waits waited          out of me & we &     one
another golem limb           not the thing to phantom you     are
you & you are you     are always are always out of          limbed
     & in dream & in waking           walking the silence
cannot reach     reach out to out          & in dream the phantom a being
without reach without          absence without     king & kith
     absence          alack     erode to get          to get to get what one
wants          & in dream & in dream     to kin meant to legacy
the lost to     reach & in spirit on the miss & in dream a lost
     is spirit to limb to phantom     absence     miss the lack          to kin
the lack          lacking to lack & mud to dream & you     a mud is
we     we must we must concur we     must scream lost & miss
     & in & wake

next








































Dear ______, A Bomb is Not a Quick Death
 

unless − pink mist + disintegration
those lucky to become all phantom: not limb

or twitch or severed nerve to grasp.
a sublime confetti −

you think only of the dead, i know
a man of ascended wrists + ankles took

to birds. broken. falderal. akimbo.
that labyrinthine spine:

flense of shrapnel, imprisoned
minotaur. grindstone. rake + rage.

what do you know of time dilation? to know
you have become two selves:

time twining itself into marrow −
that is pain. that is −

listen: doctors dig graves into you.
this cicatrix will never knit flesh.

curdled skin + smolder. a man who carries
his bladder on a spear. his wife

young + feather eyed. baby down she powders
him fresh in the pre-dawn + by nightlight.

there is a special love that will kill a man.
there is a photograph, hunter −

holy stigmata + lodestar. bloodied blood brothers,
i tell you: point blank.

there is no more remorse in a dead man's face
than there is in the living.

i want you to know that survival
is the slowest death there is

+ still, + still

+ still

next

KAT FINCH lives with an orange cat in Ann Arbor where she attends The University of Michigan. Her work is forthcoming in Sixth Finch & The New Megaphone, & can be found in Birdfeast, Ilk, & The Sugar House Review. Kat Finch is more than likely her real name.

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