I Swallowed My Father

because I thought he planned to put me in an asylum / because I didn't hoof his line / because fury needs to stop / because bleats carry collective sins / because my two-toes skewed his Persian carpets / because my hair trailed in my mother's soup / because I was extracted from / scavenged / for loaf cake in our kitchen cupboards / because I might have levitated / because I was unshaped / because of piercings / in one pinna / because I wore my pelt / above the knee / because I brought disgrace / because I was too shapely / because I walk towards him / because I was no longer his kid daughter / because my dewclaws were too long / because he kicked my soft flank / because fury needs a full stop because I walk towards him his ashes – a giant effigy pawn flanked by rows of figures an Ash Army because I walk towards him in time’s slow dissolve cinnamon cardamom black pepper at his neck because I lean towards him his damp forehead softly caving in