Then

the animals descendThen—

Inebriation

shaped of the darkness

about the magnolia tree

flirtatious in the recessional night

emboldens the meek

The dandier

lust between partner and beast

breeds a posse

by magnoliar light

Fighting

to keep itself

for the grave

Slips in the cold

muscle on the make

between nerve

and carpellary fist—

o

I can hear my ancestors

hungering at the screen

playing guest to the fiddle

boxwood, biwa strings

come back in

I get so lonely in the den

I keep my hands to my own

what the nurses feel

intempering

the lynching trees

Illumine the eyes

if you want me to die

more expediently

rattling

the lustrous boughs

o

HeirloomWe hang

A warm wind in the night

body of stone

remains

in first light

milk alarum from mud

up our legs

lac bugs burn the limbs

Short flames on scarlet sap

the strait of panamint

preserves

stockings from the dying tree

We water the dying bush

plain cake and potatoes

Do you hear? Socket of children pulling loose

---

Brandon Shimoda was born in California. He has chronicled his subsequent movement in recent and forthcoming installments of jubilat, A Public Space, Colorado Review, Practice and elsewhere, as well as in book projects forthcoming from Corollary, Flim Forum and Tarpaulin Sky Press(es). He currently lives in Montana.

Other works on Sidebrow: The Maggot and the Fly