at first we called their names
madness doesn’t want
to keep staring at the wall
to reduce it
a low heat
fingers boil up too
shaking isn’t sexy tracing
scar lines on whose property
addled upper
lip
touch to the cast
an exact
at first we called their names
moving steel, bone, 3D printed cement, pvc skin
how much would you pay for a steady hand
surgeon server sculptor sniper
paint by numbers this time like
last time we called their names
then we called their other names
reading from the wall we found
but didn’t look for movement
search for the stiff and the still
would you say laser-
guided landscape or portrait
when the color comes
fueling up riverbed just
top it off for me
at first we called their names
gephyroid ferryman jaundice semi-conductor
receive handshake make a good impression
little strokes do not disturb shape the brush
into distance
call it perspective can i call u daddy
or is that weird too much
to sort through
at first we called their names
couldn’t pronounce anything right
except war & we
weren’t ready for its sounds
mica woods is an editor, instructor, radical sentimentalist, and porchrat mom from Kansas City, MO. They received the Merrill Moore Prize for Poetry in 2015 from Vanderbilt University. Her most recent and forthcoming works can be found in Juked, DIAGRAM, The Wanderer, Palimpsest, Foothill, Pretty Owl Poetry, and Hollow.