By Mothlight

I read the tarot on my phone
on heads they stood and hands they hold
the lovers switched to stand on hair
the sky the ground the earth the air
meant you'd leave me for another
by the weekend

the knowledge tree flipped on its head
unwrapped the sheets on the hotel bed
hunched o'er the light of the writing read
fed out the fruit to the dirt instead
oh and sent all the wrong wings flapping
sent all the wrong wings flapping

the doctor's wife said I must be heartbroken
she could read it in my nose
she could tell that I'd soon be spoken to
by the way that I held my clothes
she could see that the cards were upside down
see that my pulse had been turned around

I did not know what the tarot told
'til it flagged on my telephone
the awful words that your thumbs intoned
the rotting seed sought from the bone
said not quite now but hoping soon

you would vanish with the basement moths
in the dim red light
outside the ladies room