Red Crow

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Superimposed afterimage after mirage spirit
Ghost of a     papaw on the other side of the meetinghouse
Hydrangea blossoms turned pink by pennies     wives tale
Leaping with life    legacy what he       leaves us what is left of us
Does he yet breathe    heady breath humid through the leaves     hot and lazy
Dog days combing through a healthy head of leaves    sit in the solution           until–
slough off the days like waterlogged chlorophyll   like snakeskin    like exoskeletal innards
Rice paper with the veins run through it       the lines converge      it’s like he is really there
No not even like    is snakeskin innards      green blush his face is eating light      evening leaf
hue                                                                        Everything is rising      now    
slough it off like      no    not even like      pointer finger nub
Just so on the hydrangeas      no       not even like        everything that       is really there
Rises        sourdough on saturdays        lawn mower that requires a sacrifice        
everything that converges                       Rises          everything rises           no        not even  
the everything leaves slouching           
heavy is the branch that leaves        must       everything          it must he says      
it must