This disproportionate Spilling over
It comes as a pain that wakens in the night
To bind (properly, with a hoop or ring)
I supine-twisted out of my spine
and still couldn’t escape my fretting
Of architecture A ceiling adorned
with carved or embossed work
consisting of intersecting lines in relief
Of animals (now only small) To eat and devour
It gnaws or consumes from within
Erosion (now rare)
To rub or chafe, torture by wearing away
A canker reddened sore decayed spot
(in the wood of a bow or arrow, in a hair)
The tongue prods the ulcer in the back of the mouth
A figure formed by two bendlets, dexter and sinister
Weaving an ornament of jewels or flowers
in a network of lace
A net of gold or silver embroidery
Of water Agitated, troubled, broken into waves
A breach or passage made by the sea
A strait
Cassidy McFadzean holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Brooklyn. She is the author of two books of poetry: Drolleries (McClelland & Stewart 2019) and Hacker Packer (M&S 2015). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in BOAAT, Diode, Yalobusha Review, and Denver Quarterly.