When We Went to the Abandoned House

The germination of coats and papers
created soft winged bats, and I swore your
eyes blazed like two pieces of coal where
they soared. Something temporal floated.
A coat held the starved; Was it you?
Me? In a jar, an emu egg lodged like
a miscarriage. We found so many shells.

A tall man rattled the windows

with a weathervane; a woman wrapped

her hair with peacock feathers, tears.

You said it was the ice that led us in

to find the phonograph: your name

audible, and it echoed back so that

even now I can hear the geist.