enjoy this Christopher Hivner writing
in the Scars Publications free 2011 PDF file chapbook: The Silence Brushes
My Cheek Like Glass
(click on the front cover image or the
title text to download the free PDF file)
My Tongue Moved Like a Snake
Christopher Hivner
Thieves came.
My tongue moved like a snake
as I mouthed
my open wounds
into air I had already breathed
from the morning on.
My mouth formed
words
and the thieves came,
night fevers
razing the mercy in their eyes.
They destroyed
and I lay still,
they violated
and I continued my silence.
I couldn’t see their faces
behind their hoods,
they couldn’t hear my words
as I wouldn’t speak aloud,
but we watched.
Movements like a ballet,
they coordinated their crimes,
tokens turned to icons
until they believed themselves
to be sacrists
kneeling
at my bedside.
They heard without my voice.
Thieves came
and my tongue struck them
like a viper.
