It sounds like dying, but deadbolt
mechanisms depend upon precise moments
and movements, cogs and wheels adjoining
in concert or alternating. Can’t you hear it now—
a steam train sounding and all that great
brass rattling down the tracks,
the tracks, the music of life rocking you
in and out of sleep and
wake, the delve and douse we do
when we dream of hearts and souls
and who has claim on ours, a key in an antique
lock, that perfect timing, that turn over and click—
from Angel BonesFind more by Ilyse Kusnetz at the library
Copyright © 2019 Ilyse Kusnetz
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Alice James Books.