marlene mountain
one-line haiku sequences
june 1981

i'm committed

i'm committed to your maleness even more to the moon's femaleness
   my breasts not old as my feet all now on the same path
    photograph one breast its scar the underarm hair i've let grow
    leg hair scraggly unlike those ten years younger
    the doctor says tie the tubes there're 5-l0 years to go
    do women know which child made which scars
    the child away clothes that don't fit him torn for rags
    you remove the tampon and enter
    you're not here enough not funny being this kind of virgin
    i'm not like her you're not like him
    the day too full and of bullshit the clothes hung by moonlight
the three of us make a good couple

nothing

nothing in the news i can alter you've been gone four days
in the heat your call the weekend is off
not the hour overtime at work that makes monday drag on
a second long look into the empty mailbox
the year half gone already the fear of dying leaves
i forgot to say 3 pileated in the sarvice
: and blue jays robins chickadees an orange-legged katydid
in the laughing with you
viva the complications of women you said a towel beneath us
was it a dream your unshaven chin in my blood
do women of japan write private haiku
hungry i go to bed uneaten
one hour into tuesday

note
dates: i'm committed: 6/25-28/1981; nothing: 6/29-30/1981

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