Sedimentary
Her coat trembles, her blond hair, like sea-
weed, sways with the current; an empty sound, a zero
letter slips from her body. Furs and slushed ink surround
her, while constellations coax her eyes
skyward. Her mouth
caves inward. I drink
champagne. Her eyes fossilize. She destroys
my enemy. She tethers his wrists in barbwire and wrenches
his sniveling knees into shale. In nude
light, she wrings the future from his tongue—grackles
and a tent of maggots blow from his lips.
She eats his cadaver—a black
plate of mud and suet. She saps drowned waters from a vein
and swallows. I think
about the dead woman.
— maureen alsop
"Sedimentary" previously appeared in Diner.