Time Out of Mind

for Bob & Nico in Paris, 1964

This time I will name you Boaz

I will cleave you from my head

and ripen you in my womb

I will address you as You

and remember all the other names

and places you’ve been

This time I will know

your strength and sharpness

is no affront to the gentle hand

with which we laid you to rest

this time I will remember you with action

and I will pass the time with care

There will be no waste in our waters

there will be no poison on our tongues

there will be no longing for another

for we are everyone

I will not feed you to the dogs this time

there will be no dogs this time

there will be only wolves

and we will be the wolves

and we will not be cannibals

We will be perfect

and we will be wrong

and I will not blame you

for what I have done

I will not write letters to you

that I do not send

I will not write in my blood

I will not long for another

for you are myself

and we are wolves

fighting for what is already won

______

Bio:

Christine Hall was raised in a trailer at the edge of the Adirondacks by cultist pornographers and troubadours. Inculcated with American mythology—tool girl calendars, bible stories, science fiction—she built on this education while hitching rides across the continent. Now at home in the Nashville creative community, Christine is an experimental artist, writer, and performer. Her work has appeared in Out & About Nashville, Be About It zine, and several anthologies including Sinew (April Gloaming Publishing, 2021), on MTA buses, and on stages with the Yoni Pearl Monologues, Poetry in the Brew, Cabaret Noir Collective, TSU, Third Man Records, Scarritt Bennett Center, and OZ Arts.