works by william pham, 2005-present

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The Nervous Twitch

The nervous twitch is a needle at the community swimming pool,
she says she says she says and sings:
the nervous twitch the coffee spoon the lunar eclipse
casts the blood to waveward go good into the night
well-satisfied from the gorging upon our sweet lips.
She says have you ever eaten an orange whole and unpeeled
and pierced the rind with your unflossed teeth, have you
ever been unkind to the marketman who smiles at your back,
you ought to see what he sees written upon your back in
crayon scrawl and synapse-skip the dead see scroll;
she sings have you ever cut the wrong turn off
the right turn on the right by holy writ to hold you
in thrall by the grip of the wrist and the sting of unclipped
nails, the grip of the hair the turn of the scalp toward
the inevitability of the steam-powered engine in summation:
a tunnel-piercing howl singing through the crashing of the wave.
Lean toward her when she says and sings untoward things.

copyright (c) 2007 by william pham