HOLLOWED-OUT RÜCKENFIGUR

A my-sized cavity faces the sea
merchant sun approaches
the razored barnacles
beneath the dock

*

Crown of head and a door-shaped pit
feet gain
purchase sheetwise
along the edge
flex talons
into memory

*

The sun fumbles into foreign day
falling stomach-
catching weight-
lessness but
with purpose
as if into snow
or lover’s
arms

*

An orange wisp of cloud
hung by
the maw
one limen
between
sleep and waking

*

Pitch-black
gained purchase
in reverse
the melody stops
turns
looks you right
in the
eye

*

The site of encounter
hands have been holding
hands and wrists
another—
she—
they—
bodies

TOPPING THE WOOD BURNING STOVE

o cavern ous cast - iron holl ows
I f ill y ou
am bitiou sly
be cause I a m
s o c old
in a chic ken-coo p cab in
with out thin king I grab t he big gest
log I can find
and com bust—

spark e ludes me
I blow and b low
un til I my mind wisps
in to star light
fr aught, fro sty
I a m thin king about sur vival
your h eat hing es on my making
it th rough th e night

f ire! I’ m read y to bur n
un bill owed by my blo wing
I a m vex ed
by t he setting s un
darkn ess
de ascending
de sperate
f or a whisp er
of y our smoke

hand ling kind ling
finge ring twigs,
h and fuls of leaf lit ter,
pa per, s mall b ranches finge ring twig s,
lit tle l eaves, cutting card board, splitting woo d,
shredding news paper, blister ing bar k,
clic king the light er over and ov er
no thing click—
noth ing click—noth ing
click—nothing
clickflameclick— damn it

I want you to burn
a live I want to
burn baby lit
for long er now
slipt into spire
lay d own a
log on the
lit b ranch burn
bitch blow blaze
stay with m e
I’m he re

cover ed in ash f or you
dead set on your crack ling dur ess
w ield the fire prod
prop u p you r burning col lapse
at tent ive and s low
s o s low brush ing
you r emb ers
the h eat all o ver m y f ace
the red g low in my e yes
a m oth for you r o range f licker
linge ring f or the in fer no I mad e
you ’ re s o fucking h ot
scorch ing on a thou sand s uns

I c an sleep
h ere
I c an live
he re
I ca n las t
t he nigh t

Aubrey King is a nonbinary poet living in San Francisco. They received an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics where they were the Allen Ginsberg Graduate Fellow. Their poems appear in Poetry, Warm Milk, Gramma Press, and others. “Hollowed-Out Rückenfigur” is after Anne Carson’s “Shot List” and “Topping the Wood Burning Stove” was written during a residency with Sundress Academy for the Arts. Keep an eye out for their new project precarious, a publication and event series in collaboration with Madeline Rose and Sea Snyder, launching in the new year.