Shoots and Vines Issue 4 October 2009

Chord and Cage by Justin Scott Heifetz She is a spinal chord tacked with straps – Tissue on tapestry bound with a hair tie I am a rib cage pierced with a pledge pin – Mucus and marrow stuffed into a loafer We are nerve endings coiled in barbed wire – Skin caught between backpack zippers And standing amongst the backwaters – Bleak wash-up far from Atlantic shores Somehow we stay safe from the flood – Clutching onto a luxury sedan.