Song of the Bayou City
BY CHELSEA B. DESAUTELS
in Texas rain sank the earth: the city sang its bayous: I learned the weight of humidity wrapping its legs around you: in Texas doctors removed my plastic heart: heat contaminated choice: I paid a professional to activate nerves between my legs: in Texas fear was a rising river a bright depression: all the bats died: I lost all sense of time: in Texas even animal meat wasn’t enough: I ate organs & pills & gave away blood: in Texas possums ran for shelter: I packed a bag for the roof: between my legs scar tissue a bayou slicing through industry: I was a ghost with domestic responsibilities: floodwater licked the front steps: marriage got hard: in Texas water from the spout ran dangerous & gold: I followed animals back to their home: held irresponsible anger irrepressible shame: in Texas a stranger asked if I had a community of faith: locked things exploded: I drank oil & gas: pomegranates on the counter rotten & black: in Texas I watched pelicans dive at the beach dropped to my knees that I might be as hungry as their open beaks: I had no new babies: kept bleeding: in Texas I pulled up floorboards found only bones & coins: a new jangling: in Texas grackles ate carcasses by the gas station: no one was there to talk about what happened before
