Vigilance
Cat Dixon
Tell us our constant
patrol fueled by fear
is unwarranted. Secret
distress codes with
words, hands, eyes
begging “pluck us away
before the skin’s pierced.”
We know no is never
enough. Tell us not you—
never you. Tell us
the rest will not dare
despite the late hour,
despite this torn dress.
Yes, tell us the witnesses
will sing and shine
like angels, wingless
and blameless. The shrine
glows with candles
next to a signed prayer
book, kissed and closed.
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Cat Dixon (she/her) is the author of Eva and Too Heavy to Carry (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2016, 2014) and the chapbook, Table for Two (Poet's Haven, 2019). Recent poems have appeared in LandLocked, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Abyss & Apex. She is a poetry editor at The Good Life Review.
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