One Molted Childhood

from Portrait of Me Incensing the Mushrooms Channeling Demeter

By Kizziah Burton

...
says the mother searching says the daughter wandering says the one watching
says the river that divides them says the bridge says the one following the one walking across
says the ancestor and the child says the first and the last says the ghost all the ghosts moving in circles
says the one swinging the torch in the realm of the dead
says the stalker hunting the stranger that hides the daughter behind his back
says the mother burying her life in quicksand like a dog buries a bone to come back for later
says the quicksand sucking down two lives says the hook in the daughter’s mouth
says the hand tenderly unhooking the lip releasing her body like a fish into the water
says the childhood she molts and abandons on the rock
....