Punishment Flashcards
Recall the first stanza:
I can feel the tug
I can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front.
Recall the second stanza:
It blows her nipples
It blows her nipples
to amber beads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
Recall the third stanza:
I can see her drowned
I can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Recall the fourth stanza:
Under which at first
Under which at first
she was a barked sapling
that is dug up
oak-bone, brain-firkin:
Recall the fifth stanza:
her shaved head
her shaved head
like a stubble of black corn,
her blindfold a soiled bandage,
her noose a ring
Recall the sixth stanza:
to store
to store
the memories of love.
Little adulteress,
before they punished you
Recall the seventh stanza:
you were flaxen-haired
you were flaxen-haired,
undernourished, and your
tar-black face was beautiful.
My poor scapegoat,
Recall the eighth stanza:
I almost love you
I almost love you
but would have cast, I know,
the stones of silence.
I am the artful voyeuur
Recall the ninth stanza:
of your brain’s exposed
of your brain’s exposed
and darkened combs,
your muscles’ webbing
and all your numbered bones:
Recall the tenth stanza:
I who have stood dumb
I who have stood dumb
when your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings,
Recall the eleventh stanza:
who would connive
who would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge