Today's poem is by Jessica Lynn Suchon

Oracle
       

Crown: the yellowed skull of a crocodile—
he rattles the dead thing's teeth in his palm, throws
molars like dice and reads their tattered parable.
These little relics. Please tell me if tonight
he finally kills me. What does the animal say?
Studded fist, open palm, another woman? Maybe
we will go to bed early, wordless. I'll pretend to sleep
as he skirts out the door. I'll click the lock shut
behind him, imagine his shadow stays with me
beneath the sheets, that I'll believe him in the morning
when he says I must have dreamed his body rising
from the bed. I know better than to ask where he goes.
He'll say how much he loves me over breakfast, tell me he slept
so soundly, recite all the words his father taught him for blood.

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Copyright © 2024 Jessica Lynn Suchon All rights reserved
from Scavenger
YesYes Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission