jerking the heartattack string.
by Shannon Baker

in the wetness of unstuffing
the chest cell
she woke,
stirred beside her fleshheap,
and realized
she had failed him.
having not asked or wanted
caused her singing to come out
backward
and
it took
one fastdream
to explain this
to her brainclock.

still the
one-time love-touch
remains
as does the graveface made for marking,
see,
we all need money.
we all need
a hand to kiss
after the nightmare.

from then on every bending note
was a fondled lie-seed
stacked against
the tower of what unchilded
her famous finger-messing
and the sun still
circled
round&round
the ever-stretching hiways
skyscrapers
airports
shoppingmalls
parkinglots
and
homes.