ROBERT OKAJI // Irretrievable 

Irretrievable 

How we grieve the simplest 
truths: we are
                  the scatterings,
                            relics of
the mind’s
erosions, 
                 less than the sum
                            of our 
bodies. I cannot see 
the word
                 but it smokes like
                             the color green
burning, but not of 
flame, 
                 and once the knife 
                             enters 
you must avoid
its secretion
                 and peel the flesh
                              to reveal 
what hides within: the stem’s
purchase, pith,
                 seeds, the 
                              irretrievable 
shape 
of a word 
                my lips cannot
                              form.

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Robert Okaji lives in Texas. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Middle Gray, Otoliths, Clade Song, and Prime Numbers Magazine.