[RECEIPT PAPER POEMS] ❋ Sophia Reuss

Long Poem

to discern petals
from the leaves,
a seam traces
my memory’s curve–
the Thing–
with permission
to unconceal

from under suns milk,
a clear sheath
for the possible weighs

when it settles,
go gently, hold it so
in the quaver of your hand

where i seek entry,
torn and resewn
into your articulations
again

i wish to live within utterances, to
push outward at their edges and
impress my prints upon
their candle wax surfaces

a space within the skies
tells me this is impossible
or perhaps,
too late

and what if it arrives
after you’ve left?

questionable intent
lingers

there was not one
tear in the sky
that morning,

just
dust

will you
aspire?

will you
tend aimlessly

towards some
invariable sense
of softer pleasure?

a question, i suppose

without an ear
you seem
to see me better

the trees are between
four deaths.

after the last:
leaves,
incarnate,
precede.

i go in search of myself

i find
a thorn
a train ticket
a sense
a vial &
a whisper:

“the subject confuses
borrowed time
with sleep”

reading, i fall asleep;
existence in my way.
that desert is vast,
and nothing moves.