a sliver of scenery

I thought of a body stretched across the pavement

breathing distracted by the wide picture skywards

waiting in its own terms

for a limb or two to be crushed into stone

without pause or resentment

communication with the world

through touch and tongue

or skin and bone

under clouds’ shadows to hold

a stare overgrown

like weed through rock for miles

stitched along the road

I felt a body stretched across the fabric

two hands, two arms, twenty-seven bones

and a burial of seeds

for lilies untold.