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James Davis | Poetry

“the heraldic color gold” – The Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary

To love and to cherish, to have and to hold. Or
something about the weather. The common cold. Or

argent: a moon-white field, flapping. You’re in the clear
as soon as you surrender. Do as you’re told—or

what? How can we talk about sex when we can’t talk
during sex? Potent as Tetris, bodies pulled or

cajoled into the gules. The nose knows love’s tincture
stinks the same as war’s. With a jack-high, I fold or

go all in. I want my heart’s proper purpure
muscle as my charge. I want to be big, bold, or

part of your complete breakfast, weeping my colors
into your milk. To convert is to be sold, or

made green, by a story, the Bayeux Tapestry
as one big Fruit by the Foot. To get Rick-Rolled or

trolled by Roland. No shortage of ways to hatch
our plot, to make the crusader a cuckold. Or 

our arms were briefly joined. We shared a pale, is all.
Now it’s gone. All that’s left is a band of gold. Or…