coughin

when you took my hand
laid it across my breast wrapped
around my locket on white muslin

my feet on the earth
head in the earth facing
the rising sun you never told me
three years your child
i could never touch your hand

blades of grass
pill-bugs, curling in my fist
you made for me this
i am vital force
i am your womb

six days in the ground you wept,
placed the stone in your mouth
is all you'll remember