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.