ay Heinrich - Eight Poems

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cancer


hard to mention cancer
lightly
politely

if you open your mouth
the death's head 
might pop out

at the beach


red

pink

our position in the sun is everything


and sex with sand and sunburn

stops hurting

only 

when we cum

about our hats


thin black hands
reach 
out of the backs of our heads
holding up
our heaven hats
so
when we face each other
it seems 
there is a sky
complete with stars

flowing under ice


the 
stream 
remembers 
the wash of the shore
the punch of the rocks
the caress of large fish
individually for miles

dark nights
winter nights 
flowing under ice

the thaw
the flood
the sea

hands don't need to talk


one wraps around my back
and the other 
holds mine
and we are dancing
like you see in the movies
so this
is what my grandparents 
were up to
amazing
that anyone can hold you this close
just 
by asking for a dance

faith is real


faith is real
god or no
it bathes your soft cheeks in the glow
of burning witches
row on row

years after the war


he was frightened
by the war
and will not leave their house
she was frightened too
now she is dead

but their conversations go on
years after the war
their conversations
flow
out the doors and windows
and fill the street
making it hard 
to walk by
years after the war

bosnia again


Even shallow graves come at a premium
so you are lucky for this because the
ones that come after will find your 
bones and maybe figure out who you 
are and tell your daughter who 
survived and was only raped every 
day for three months can tell her
you're dead and allow you to rest
and you to be identified so you 
can be added to the list so maybe 
one in ten thousand can be brought 
to trial for war crimes which is 
more than it used to be so i guess 
you're lucky.  We have only to ask 
your daughter.