REVOLUTION XV Poem by Lies Van Gasse

This afternoon when, in full sun,
I found myself a body,

hair turned long,
loops grew beneath skirts.

I wondered what it meant

when no rope can find its knots,
when wood unravels,
and we are late, but lost.

Years lay between us.
A woman has borne children
and swapped houses.

This afternoon,
when the flesh grew on my bones
and the sea rose to the flood line,

I wondered where the waves led.

Coils were rewound.
I felt entirely absent,
looked at the back of who I was.

This afternoon lives were rounded off,
cats licked one another clean.
It was a tender moment.

We pulled out each other's hair.
Unexpectedly the past returned.

This afternoon
a smile fell
like glass between the ropes.

I circle around you.

I paint cats' paws,
set the beacons out.
The face consists of hollows,
the body of deficiency.

Like this, I want
to be around you.