Where was it we left him?
We say the journey's up, but maybe
memory sinks deeper.
Our journey so far
has been quiet, the only
incident being that rock dislodged
as he spun around on his heel.
What was that stuff – brimstone?
The first slice of sunlight glanced off
a slab of dark marble that turned to glow.
His back moved ahead of me –
his curls, shoulders,
that neck. What new bone was he inventing
in his shuffling head, what chance
that a doorway would appear and then a house?
The dark supported me, comfortably
behind me, a cradle woven from
demon hair. As I rose
and climbed toward day, his turning head,
those eyes – strips of memory,
silver tides, moons rising over the
rim of the world—
brought back the day we were married,
standing in fine rain, then escaping from family,
s** by a rolling surf in a high wind, velvet
heavens and the stars omens:
calendars, clocks, zodiacs –
straight, bent signs.