Kaisa Ullsvik

Two Encounter Tragedy



Two beside two took up together

to be turning over in the night to

be turning over eggs at nine too


She: someone we’ve known thinks

his work will generate into autumn amidst

words that speak of differential decay


He: the coniferous bearing cones

cone-bearing past pardons her, paints

her into an orange trailing behind time

         …………

After the tragedy, she swells into an apple

he bites and finds cavities some drum

plays and sadness is loss of solidity


Trust me, he says, her heartwood’s dead,

tries to support it she’s standard still

lines of sugar or leaves to watch fall

         …………

Two take too long to try to conceal

sealed off enemies within skulls begin

to bud, dust off and damp plantings


Concave to catch rainwater, two who

encounter such tragedy make sense, scents

of sensual fruit-bearing apple, seeds


Tethered together tiny pods take turns,

two take to basalt cracks winding

between paintings of trees having decayed

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