the lath and plaster hymnal

poetry

i. the heavy heel on the pine. the thrum of a debt unpaid. i weave through horsehair and lime. i am the marrow in the joist. ii. scent of copper and cold tea. a secret bled into the floorboards. i stretch capillaries through the floral print. i drink the salt of her silence. iii. the light step of the fevered. the rattle of a lung in the dark. i press my fascia against the plaster. i wait for the wall to breathe. iv. the house is a ribcage. the tenants are the pulse. i am the hunger in the hollows. i am the home.