Introductions

by David Winter

When I meet a voice carving
masks I forbid that voice to leave
this book. When I meet my voice dressed
up for a disappointing night
when a mite crawls
into a forgotten megaphone, listening.
When I meet speaking out
of turn a voice who breathes best
by match-light. When I meet a measured
silence my voice peels daylight
from beneath her fingernails.

When I meet my voice I listen
to someone else's.

When I meet my voice,
a lost dog.

When I bark.

When I plead
from the knees
of a whale.

When I rummage
through the bones
of a star.

When I meet my voice at a funeral
I did not attend.

My voice who plucks out
three
tongues,
voice who returns to another's
prison, voice who resents the eye
of the undertaker, voice who does not speak
to me, if I un-strangle you
who
will breathe with me?

One of David Winter's poems recently appeared in Feast of Fools: Poems, Stories, and Essays on Sacred Fools and Tricksters (Sacred Fools Press, 2010) and another is forthcoming in The Shop. In February he will begin leading a writing workshop for gay elders through New York Writers Coalition. See David read at The Poetry Brothel this Sunday, February 12th. He would love to hear from you at dvdwntr@gmail.com.