in my own salt blood the tide of time's arrival in the flesh
rears and turns at my tight skin
bleeds back its way to molten bone
where unhung i tremor for that forbidden touch

not through the eye, nor the skin
though through them traced
the tidal signals flash
not in word, nor thought
the signals instantly decode
and arm each cell for ecstasy
but in my salt blood the tide of time's arrival in the flesh
gendering human flesh yet genders all
is irrevocably checked
at breakers rocked down in the blood
to block the tide and drain whole oceans dry

this man ungutted in amongst his own
so cluttered up with chains that lock the tide
in links of such deliberate measurement
is caught up, confounded in his instruments
while the masterless tide unmeasured turns against its flesh
disarming every cell in pestilence

as in my own blood the tide of time's arrival in the flesh
blocked here once more
by decorums tyrannic lock
that captures my sweet blood from its long becoming
now only in my choking witness sprung

1985 for renee
asheville n.carolina