We have gone into the light where no farmgrrl has ever been we
have gone into the light into the mouths of horses into fire-breathing
mouths of trumpets the sound of fluttering wingless shadows
our body has gone into the light & there we are an abyss without color
falling patchwork gardens past gates of fire
into where dreams form in birth clouds in corpse fire
gunfire all our violence a shadow cast over angels
gathering dream orbs carefully with silkworm fingers &
placing them into the mouths of dragons into the mouths of horses
without hurrying they turn to us & form a circle their gowns of lavender pink
iridescent pills of light on threadbare garments
all our dirt abuse pain they pluck from us like eyebrow hairs
each one carried gingerly with glowing silkworm fingers
*
The gate closes with us inside a jungle of light
hair by hair where angels pick off our decay
after many days after many nights
the angels leave us a pure silkworm
when we ask “hello?” a chair appears & clothes
bell bottoms a Tori Amos shirt
butterfly hair pins all of which we put on slowly
twirling the sides of our long hair
into horn-buns
“socks?”
fuzzy pink slippers appear
now that we’re dressed we can ask questions
“where am I? what is this place?”
but as we take our first step onto the road of light
we’re suddenly back in our bedroom
with CD cases Nine Inch Nails Korn Metallica scattered
black dresses fishnets gothic crosses platform boots
toast plates & cups
fine angels fine
we’ll clean it first
*
Q&A with Death (written in lipstick):
What swirls inside a hornet’s stinger? SONG
who worms the wayward flight of doves? GALE
are houseflies riddles locked in frog skin? WRONG
what stocks the earth’s apothecary? VEIL
what drums inside a horse’s hooves? LIGHT
why do our mother’s eyebrows knit? HELL
where dreamless does their conjure go? BLIGHT
are souls a silly superstition? CELL
where sleeps eternal afterglow? STINGER
what’s mown inside the summer grass? GOD
are you our sister sister sister? SISTER
why faces upturned fragile wonder? SOD
why are our questions honest crushed? THE SEA
what chaos whispers every hollow? HYPHAE
*
When our bedroom is clean (except for the lipstick) we dissolve
into Christ’s brown eyes & the portal of angels’ trumpets
taped to the ceiling wearing our mother’s lingerie
all leaf-green lace & eyes shut against the sight
of the washer & dryer we turn our brain into a peony
full of ants flames sewn onto our heels
Mycelium Emporex of Darkness emerges from the mirror
*
We dance guitar-flung cosmic ruin
our feet interlace on vacuumed paths
we sunbeam crucify
“take us with you”
They do not alter do not break
Their stride & with a final twirl
we end up where we started
*
One afternoon we wake hungover
Mycelium Emporex of Darkness hovers
“what’s Your name?” we ask
“demon or angel?”
demon demon angel angel
hellbeing skybeing ethereal
riddlebeing
we can’t make out Their answer
Their voice is wings beating
& rush of wind
we see Them
eyeflood clawfish
wavehorn fairytide
wonderterror eyevagina
wingspark shadowrustle mushroomfang
poisonopera purple eyes with faces churning
unicorns caged inside Their
wonderterror Their see/sea
BRANDI GEORGE is the author of Gog (Black Lawrence Press, 2015) the play in verse, Faun (Plays Inverse, 2019), and The Nameless (Kernpunkt Press, forthcoming 2023). Her poems have recently appeared in American Poetry Review, Fence, and Orion. She teaches writing at FSW in Fort Myers, Florida.
