on occasion, me
the many me’s
in the bright, dangerous cold
along the crick
the whip crack from the snout of the gun
steel elephant blued
to a deep, desperate negative
stark against the snow
rabbit and dove
the color of everything
perfectly painted into the foreground
I do wish again
for the sandy banks
and still black walnuts
bent over the waters
and the sun high and grim
I write your name with foggy breath
into this place
you are with me
hung around me like a scarf
hung around me like dead leaves
or dead men
then,
the low clouds off the hills
delicately holding hands eastward
bring a white curtain softly to bear
I’ll bear it
as I bear your lilting weight
I am the hunter
I am the hunter
I will find you
and kill you with my sugared love
and die with you
against the rallying day
The work originally appeared in the print edition of Locust Review #7,
Anupam Roy, Assertion (2021) - black and white version of image.
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