eve

we sat in designated
blue velvet porcelain oak chairs mother
pulled syrup and bread and
sarcophagus from the black-caked corroded
oven, we watched, steam rising from
her robe and, I
passed out, the knives,
my brother licked his teeth coated, licked, his
teeth trembling licking and
my sister blinked as she prayed
fingers crossed together knelt down, intertwined
I counted these blinks until
the crows, descended, every year,
black feathers in glitter glue
plugged into the outlet behind the
table, thrash brown toe claws in steel-toed boots in
our milk and honey, the table salt, and
spit in our mouths manifestations, cholera, plasmosis,
Darling’s disease,
father rises and punctures my
brother’s, throat with two double-A batteries
positive test results lung collapse lung collapse
the, they, stab their gnarled cracking beaks in
my stomach, fermented digestion system twisted,
arranged a one-act nativity scene with the entrails,
blood of the holy ghost coagulated in my throat
and mother observed from the other end
contorted hands gesturing relaxations convulsing
relaxation hissing around, flapping, relaxed,
I kneeled ambivalent on the hardwood
fetal position outlines