Helixes

1.

against the image of goldenrod
i apply my dereliction to you

untying knots of fountainspray
backward dunes

unraveling after we read
the gaping verb muscular node

asterisk a planet if
and this "if" of splendor

sinks back into its vertebrae
where we crimp

burgeoning gardenias singular
helix of whitewash and ice give me

sacrificial arteries your eyelashes
brimming with winter

slender sores of the finite
these were blood and bark

slanting gouged labeled
yellow bruise as "dying"

peels climbing interruption
the purest blank

speck of tongue sparkling
as consciously

on my cheek in shame
and what we do--

ever-filtered gallows
you and i parabolic

artificial mappings of
copper-plated skies