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PJ Harvey, White Chalk


Grow grow grow

wet toes aligned at the edge of a void
as clams
like limpets
at the rocktide's lapline

jump and make something
project out into what was not the void
until you happened and
like a waveretreat
cleaved that into empty

sfunny
the hallway didn't seem so empty until we inherited this hideous armoire
an impassable thouroughfare become itself a placeless place
my kids are stranded in the lounge
we cringe and scrape the stairway's foot
stamped once in anger
now planted
then blooming

Legends:
MAKING IS NOT ALL IT'S MADE OUT TO BE
ANYONE CAN EXPLODE
THINGS HAPPEN, TRY STOPPING THEM
bravery comes in the lingering copse of the faithful

not to break nor fashion but
hold on there on that upturned hull
skyborne rescue is not for the likes of us

rather we stubborn we clutch
to a boat's expanding shell
while the swell below becomes continuum

no, it isn't in the throw
nor in the wreck as such
but how the swell
begins to build
to gather rise and fill
beneath our rafting doggedness
to rise, to fill and then
to grow,
grow and grow.

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