The hollow in her mouth moves its blackness autonomously

she knows the rest of her
can be nothing but a flute to its sigh
an echo to its rim
a tunnel to its thrust.

The hollow in her mouth dilates into a Ray
flattens to a She
oblongates into an O

everyone before her here we are a shoe
triumphantly lain flat, a puppet, a kite, a dog

there are no teeth, the teeth are not to be seen
the tongue too shies into

the blackness of her mouth

is more

willful

than herself

it would be possible to grasp by the corners
and gently peel it off her face
nothing in her semblance would change
if we candle-lit her throat

she submits
and submits
us to the shadow in her mouth
the hollow in her mouth is nothing but a dog
unleashed unspelled untrained

the hollow in her mouth transfix-
es the space between the occupiers, the blackness
in her mouth is independent from the words
lazarously numb, vicariously done, aphonic in our lull

a proper phantom, a tail coat
rigid on its hanger
there is no gasp, no cry, no hum

the hollow in her mouth
is the threshold, or—
not the portal but the beginning
of all that is
beyond the borders of her mouth

nothing stands behind its flatness.