The Three Marys

Since I was young I’ve seen my heartbeat

Stitched into opaque depths of purple backdrops

Drie Susters

Devised by emaciated fingers that cackle and chatter

Over who misplaced their palisades

When they grazed their milky teeth against my freckled skin

And my benumbed lips with their desiccating kiss

So I knew what controlled the world

Wasn’t me

Or nature

Or God.

Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka:

Two beats for love

One beat for loss.