Men / whose faces / I’ve loved / I’ve lost / they blur / together / mistakable / one man / naked /

sprayed / chemicals embalming / his / youth / my father / choking / his ache / another man

naked / spread / a sheet / on the floor / a white suburban basement / catching the stains

we make / an autopsy / then destroy / how to / position / forget / until we teach /

the body / to cry / sip / kiss / leave / Father / I’ve missed / men / so I line

them / up / taste / the list / it curls / toes / blue / tagged / hips bucking /

 a mouthless lust / some smile / I can’t / remember / the sheet / we

throw / his laugh / cold / the death / little & / unforgiving /

a sheet / drawn back / to care / for blood / paternal ache

/ a sheet drawn / to block / inspection / from view /

flesh / probed & entered / excavated / mouths

understood / then filled / with sorrow / or a

pair of shoulder blades / on the mantle /

in my memory / a museum of faces /

 I turn / away / from / mid / sex the

bodies that leave / despite / my

lineage / preserved / & naked

 I cannot stop / lusting /

after all / I /

lose.