Zetta Bear
The Blade
The father of a demented girl is clipping his nails.
He keeps them blunt and clean for grasping.
Each contains a cold half-moon, the cuticles pushed back
like sleeves rolled up meaning business.
He maintains them like a dedicated craftsman,
oiling them with a substance made from whale fat.
One ceremonial toe-nail is grown into a curved blade
he flexes under the table at dinner, cracking the claws
of stranded crabs to suck the sweet liquid meat.
At night his daughter submits herself to his feet.
Her face concealed in a leather mask he made for her,
he inserts his blade and scrapes her clean of all innocence.
Page(s) 27
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