The Days That Were Have Now
                        —Gilgamesh

                    in all eyes a witness.
In every mouth, lies. The truth is
          a broken bone that can't be
set. Tender are the breasts' proprietary
                    bruises from the steering
wheel. Nothing is more sexual
          than being trapped. Just ask,

and a politician will sign anything,
                    even a cast. The body's made
real through habit, the body's made
          real through habit. Two blips
meet on the street, in love or conspiracy—
                    motives so close from 60
thousand feet, they're almost

indistinguishable. Dear G-O
-D, dear satellites; dear
                    Voyager and able dead
light: no lyric exists anymore
          except in the spam folder. Perhaps our secrets are
safest with those we don't know. In all
                    eyes a witness. In every lie,

a mouth. After the accident
          one man will say to another,
She could be bleeding internally,
                    don't move her.

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Copyright © 2018 Emilia Phillips All rights reserved
from Empty Clip
University of Akron Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission