epigenetics or: our assets divided

nicole v basta

a fly lost in my hair discovers
the name of my dead on her wing
dark ink on what’s lucid
like the words we call
each other ever mattered
syllable, just a bent bough
the mouth, another maker of wind
how about hammer
a plaque so i never forget

how about summer in the rearview
a bucket and a filthy laugh on fire
dying for the origin of the plume
i walk toward it, a bunch of teeth
in a pile divorce one another
these artifacts of whisper, our divided assets
a distant hiss is a sail on the wind

another whisper is for sale
how do you call lore
when i believe everything
like the story of the wings
the woman who hid them
still using her feet in a village
here, there is only a lip bitten
as if i am about to say faith
and the woman takes off her coat

nicole v basta poems have found homes in Ploughshares, Waxwing, Plume, Crazyhorse, North American Review, The Cortland Review, etc. She is the author of the chapbook V, the winner of The New School’s Annual Contest and the chapbook the next field over, out now from Tolsun Books. More: nicolevbasta.com.