Charlotte Slivka
Dust Hits Light

Ingy sniffs the page
my pen my arm
she wonders how she fits
into this act of book
on lap how to
compete with the book

I wonder how to push
myself onto the page
the unwilling swimmer
shivering at the start
head down
push from the wall
and let the water depart
from my body

this is a book
of a different kind
of telling

I walk through walls
because I am a mist
of unknown thoughts
that gather and swirl
then leak and do not
stick
I am vaporous
my tangible body
a witness

how to push myself through the page
I rake the day
into a pile and leave
a trail of details
like the evidence
of smoke