quietus

love is the great good use
one person makes of another

indiscriminate
writing
ripping
things from out
the skin
and merchandising
them
i am
the tool
of sadness
the tool
of labor
i am
a lead weight
i am
colored like
an oyster
with the same
impassable lips

until
any fool rips
me open and
makes me his whore

(little polly
little polly
of the strawberry letter)