Cloak

Catherine Graham

I hide my power in a cloak I hoard as anger.
My jaw gears like a charging bull;
hairs horn from my butting forehead.

“sky. There is no edge from which to hang
my plumb-line. No ledge on which to lay
my spirit-level. And you are outside piling logs,
working on your own wreckage.”
—Dorothy Molloy, Sobs rack my chest

I hide my power in a cloak I hoard as anger.
My jaw gears like a charging bull;
hairs horn from my butting forehead.

Stick of flame, I bring fresh heat
to a room like sun in sky. There is no edge
from which to hang
your escape. I whore surrender.

Not bad this giving up. No tit
for tat just a hit in the chest
where you slip between heartbeats.

Catherine Graham is the author of the poetry trilogy: Pupa, The Red Element, and Winterkill (2003, 2008, 2010, Insomniac Press). She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.

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