I want to respeak the us that you inhabit, turn
it upside down and shake it out so the hatpins,

spools and hammers clatter to the floor, so all
the trite sayings of your mother, pent-up

moods of your father come loose and unravel
like a cheap suit, bad shoes. You are more

than what you received. Refuse to inherit
the lazy eye, closed to wonder. The dry mouth,

caked with the dust of airless attics. The antique
acacia sideboards hem you in—pry

yourself, and see what the wrestling does.
Pry yourself and see what the wrestling undoes

in the wound, spells new in the margins. You,
unbound by words like come forth. Undone by be

with me. You slowly unwinding the graveclothes,
emerging—that citrus word on your tongue—into

my life. Into your life, blinking open to Bethany light,
the trees swaying with tangerine suns. Now, say us.