Erasure

I have erased words from an established text to create something entirely different.

I           tender              delicious ecstasy         against             impeccable      heart mimicking                       that      bore                 through            the       white marriage

 

And     my       mother             left       behind             the       tumbled           which  there    I’d       abandoned

 

A         woman                        bridal triumph             on my              finger               his wife.

 

Are you           that      held     paper   and                  dull prismatic sheen    since                that      tea planter

 

My      the Conservatoire        of         Chinese Pirates           shot     a man   as         I           And     that she           place    our       scandalously, defiantly            gallant   soldier                       a          legacy              the antique      eccentric          in         her       she shop.

 

Now    if          the railway      we passed       been     shaken             pointed                        breasts now     teasingly          my       thighs  with     tongue             though with     the  wedding    in         his still                        beyond                        fairy castle      in         which  Our destination,          destiny           

 

Above             steady breathing          husband           and      dark leonine     opulent                        male     and sometimes                       me       that      a            big if    his       snow

 

He       piano   He       the door           hot-house flowers       and      clasp    But      that my first    shock               not be              disappointed

 

He       streaks of        waxen  face      have     washed                        have been        in stillness when         eyes     that      seemed to        me       all the              life       born,    as         As though                   in         order    years

 

And     years               In         where?             In         marvelous        born

 

Even    did       not a    curious                        me       like      a          sentient           whose  white to           the touch         one      muscle             I thought:            the       imponderable withstand         not       gravity

 

He       a          fire opal           dark     antique gold     me, squinted    opal                 had      her       mother’s          Medici             every   did       he        old woman            my marital coup          finding             But      on        her       before me        self-confidence            of         hours.

I           had      been     bemused that               he        not       nurse.