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OCEAN VUONG ~

O C E A N     V U O N G

Threshold

In the body, where everything has a price,

               I was a beggar. On my knees,

I watched, through the keyhole, not

               the man showering, but the rain

falling through him:guitar strings snapping

               over his globed shoulders.

He was singing, which is why

               I remember it. His voice —

it filled me to the core

               like a skeleton. Even my name

knelt down inside me, asking

               to be spared.

He was signing. It is all I remember.

               For in the body, where everything has a price,

I was alive. I didn't know

               there was a better reason.

That one morning, my father would stop

               —a dark colt paused in downpour —

& listen for my clutched breath

               behind the door. I didn't know the cost

of entering a song — was to love

               your way back.

So I entered. So I lost.

               I lost it all with my eyes

wide open.

_______________

OCEAN VUONG

Night Sky With Exit Wounds

Copper Canyon 2016

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