Guide for the Well-Worn Brassard

To undo a thing. To leave the door open.
To remove each leaf from its stalk.

To leave a nasty little mark, stripped of its sterling;
a thought undressed--robbed; at once, unmanned.

To tighten so as to question your own life's worth
(without courage, I do my part as the unmaker,

plodding on as my own harlot,
used up).

  To tie and untie a thing. To undo

with no stomach to undo it (filthy little chore).

To scuff elbows. To shove on. To be wet;
unchanged. To be the last to know, without use,

slapdash and sunken and marked in one breath.


by kate bradley


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