WATERMARK

if I go out mining
carry my pick and my hoe
if I go out in the dark
morning to dig you up

to dig you out of my-
self the pick to cut away
stone and the hoe to turn my
heavy dirt will I find

you hard and silent just
another sharp stone in the
seedy soil of me or should
I go out in the night

with a flashlight a torch
to pull your night-crawling self
up out of the dark of my
thick loamy skin will you

rise to the bait of the
light? if you do and I pull
you up thinking to pierce you
on some sharp hook and feed

you to another poor
fish will you break in two and
half of you slip back through my
crumbly crevices will

you still be turning there
in the deep dark loosening
dry soil with the slippery
sheen of your body?