Leslie St. John

Apology

For burial the Chinese fill
the seven openings of the body with white jade.

Forgive my opening—the eye, the mouth,

the other mouth. You couldn’t have known

that I removed the white jade and placed

the stones in your pockets.

But didn’t you notice the weight,

smoothness under your thumb, clap

of rock and bone? I didn’t just dream

of you singing while tightrope walking

the shadow of a power line—

I wanted to cut your hair in the kitchen,

feel downy curls fall on my bare feet.