I remember the time before language
Out of earth’s cracked stomach
I was wilderness Before limbs
I was air before voice
I was water collecting sediment
and yet I yearn for this place
Time shudders a hole
inside me an old life
like a polaroid left in the sun
I am always half-leaving
How can you love me
when I pledge myself to the earth
crawl over a bodycalled husband
slip into myself with guttural cadences
when I say your name with such urgency
surely it was the first word uttered by woman
are you the lightoutside the door
or are you with usin the dark
