because they're watching the detectives

because once i've made up a word, i'm NEVER giving it up. "chiascurate," like "erastic," is probably not the correct way to turn "chiarascuro" into a...whatever grammatical construction "chiascurate" attempts to function as. and "erastic" probably doesn't make "erastes" into it (that is, grammatical function x) either. but i do it anyway. because i am intensely self-willed. like a spoiled child. or rhoda.

law & order

hold on to this night of prismatic crime--
hold to chiascurate pleasure
like teeth hold to a lower lip.

hold on to the knowing that
we once were as near each other
as i am now near myself.

moon solid as muscle
in a sky open
as a hand.