Mine in the Dusk

Mine is a bog

near the coast

of a planet

at dusk

another planet

than this one which is verdant and saturated

in past

mine in the dusk is a

feminine body found resting

in a fen

(those spores have been in her mouth

16,000 years

sixteen thousand years)

mine is my

beloved wrapped in strips of polypore

mine was made tender by a spear

mine was made small by time

and those spores have been sleeping

on her teeth

for sixteen thousand years

mine lies beneath stratified

sphagnum moss,

dreaming vapor and mist:

her body is here in the bog but

her eyes are fixed on the tumbling

sea

and heavy

history is heavy on her chest

her skin is perfect beneath

peat,

her bones eviscerated

mine is flanked on both sides

by amanitas

phalloides unfurling

like clouds

know me,

know me,

never know me,

tired madrigals

throwing voices,

speaking in rounds

are all mine