Shank by Hoya Dolling

legs for agility bless kisses to the silt ingénue; tethered tissue upon pumped fiber drafts zephyr contract in each sole print— 

iron whispers of the sky's clandestine arrangements, gratified by the hostile monarch's grasp over rue and her dear cousin: rosemary— 

ameliorated by fabric over 

poor tendon, 

sheathing the scandalous ankle 

till the timed baked cradle wakes 

just in time for the first sought 

on the fine China dinner plate: sprig 

lacquered with sweet Sherry ambition, 

polyurethane-blanketed queries, 

and maraschino covenants 

roasted in an afterthought of 

the heft nest that the legs carry 

to the trestle on opposing sides— 

when the ones on the surface do not suffice, how will you walk?

Shank by Hoya Dolling