CONTOURS:

A RELIQUARY FOR CUTICLES AND CLAVICLES

The verdict and the sentence

can’t banish the lines -

the finely clipped crescents,

the subtle bowing

the body makes and shoulders,

with keratin and collagen -

that you’ve seen,

touched,

put your lips to

like prayer.

No, it can’t!

You can still hold them,

these lines, these contours,

as images

your body can remember

and carry

across any desert,

any exile,

any famine of trust,

like the relics of a faith

on their way

to a basilica

by the sea.