the slow tongue along
a fold before the call
and shout of an evangelical
visions a pattern to confine
the pulse and stutter
in a mendicant’s response
what are we within
these folds but a fleshy
wad of nerve ends
reaching desperately across
a micro-chasm like rope
bridges above a fall
where the froth and tumult
swallows our voice’s whole
(December 7, 2015)
subtext 