Louis Stettner, Les Alpilles No. 22, 2014 (Website)
Black and white photography, 30 x 40 cm
©The Estate of Louis Stettner, 2019
When the lip broke I fell asleep.
Anyway it wasn’t my lip. Anyway
I was crossing a bridge over undrinkable water.
When the bruising started I was singing stars
out of hiding. I was coaxing stars
into the shotgun seat. I was driving
and driving. I was forgetting my lines.
I was upping toad & snake with each word
of this story I’d promised to keep mum.
Behind me, over the castle, stole
a century of sleep, deep as a sinkhole
in the desert. The thorns grew unchecked.
What would come out of that mouth
on waking, amphibian, rampant, besmirched?
The thorns grew unchecked.