c-augmented

[playing
[for the harshest team i
[skin elbows on the
[found baby in the skunk weed
[i make her mine
[two teeth and all until she makes
[a sound that’s bitten
[off more than it can spit
[out of time check
[when mama’s plane lands
[an oaf
[piloting her home so her
[hands canning albacore
[ring out while
[my body falls
[this is christmas up north take
[two
[days to climb the redwood
[until everything comes

[out buzzed and drenched
[fish clings to mason jars
[i cling to my mother’s trunk
[the birds outrun me every time
[it counts
[heaving seconds onto my christmas plate
[thank heaven and she’ll tell you skin only fills out with dutiful allowance
[thank heaven and she’ll tell you up is only up when you’re sure your toes are pointed down
[thank heaven and she’ll tell you where to put the rest of you
[the house smells like holiday and red brick
[every time she pause
[every time she walks away from me
[slick fish oil coat
[i am born out of her again
[breech and tangled in bushes
[nails so thin and tiny the grass
[uproots and calluses around my fingers
[saving me an incidental friction

— Skye Preston