Twisted by Uvi Poznansky Read Free Book Online

waiting.
    “You need anything?” one of them asks, hinting at the cutting tools.
    “No,” says the Creator, tersely.
    She wipes the traces, the clay traces left unwittingly by Adam all around my waistline. She adjusts my back, neck and head. Lastly, she sticks the three missing fingers back in place.
    “That’s it,” she says. “I’m done.”
    And with that she, too, disappears from view. Will she be coming back?
    I am patient. I wait for her. I search for a hint, a breath, a touch—only to realize that waiting is pointless. We have been abandoned.
    The Creator has turned us over, unceremoniously and with no parting words, into the hands of strangers. For what reason? What will they do with us? How long do we have? There must be some purpose to this suffering... Is there?
    Adam looks at me more tenderly than ever. We cling to each other, clay to clay. The silence between us screams fear.
     
    ❋

    N ow they turn on a big kiln, pick up their tools and, one by one, come over to surround us. They snip at the coils and break Adam free. I can see only a glimpse of him between their shoulders. He strains, in his own quiet manner, to give me one last look. They lift him away, after which I lose sight of him forever.
    I can remember very little after that. The light in this place is so white, so intense, it fills me with such radiance that I am forced to close my eyes. The air is hot, and getting hotter, and yet I can feel a shiver running through me. Something is changing here, inside and out. The Creator is coming. She is near me, around me. I have no doubt.
    A big flame of fire flares up, engulfing me. I feel it in my veins, swelling in me like a flow of molten bronze. I hear it in the crackling of embers from below. That hazy glow of my earlier existence is finally here, burning brighter than ever.
    I am grateful to go back. No longer am I stuck here, in a place of doubt.
    No longer am I inflicted with sensing shadows. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. All my sorrows are about to melt away. In this inferno, nothing will be left behind me but an empty shell. I fly into the brilliance. I am ablaze. I am in bliss. For where I am going I shall be reborn.
     

Dust
     
    He:
    From dust you gather me
    I beg you on my knee
    Look away—imagine me,
    The way I used to be
    Now shadows spread upon me
    Stain by stain
    I shiver. Touch me, heal me
    Make me whole again

    She:
    I see him in my mind
    He moves, he stirs tonight
    But when I come to him,
    Our limbs entwined
    That arm wraps around me
    It holds me and controls me—
    Can we take flight?

    He:
    In darkness take a leap
    For trust is blind
    Imagine me: I'll lift you,
    Caress you and possess you
    Imagine us:
    In passion and in sweep
    Our limbs entwined

    She:
    Pressed against that ribcage
    Where not a breath escapes
    Not a sigh of sorrow,
    Not a cry of rage
    How can I bear his silence
    When shadows grow immense—

    He:
    If shadows peel and lift away
    If ever you break free
    From my embrace
    If you catch sight of me
    In light of day—
    Go... Leave me here,
    My grace,
    In my debris—

    She:
    In my dream I'm soaring
    Amidst a flap of wings
    My heart so light,
    So happy,
    Forgetting him, ignoring
    That arm
    Wrapped around me,
    How heavily it clings

    He:
    Go!
    My spirit crushed and humble
    No feeling left, no lust
    Abandoned here
    To crumble…
    Not strong enough to blow
    These fading marks
    Of footfalls,
    Your footfalls, off my dust

    She:
    I will not let you blur
    These traces in my mind
    Of the way we were
    Our limbs entwined
    I miss you, still resist you,
    Forgive me, for I must
    Gather you so gently
    From the dust.

The Art of Dust I

The Art of Dust II

     

The One Who Never Leaves
     
    S he sits at the edge of the crooked old couch, knees pressed tightly together, and I can sense a little tremor traveling up her spine. I try to calm her down, which is to say, I clear my throat, after which I proceed to explain to her—in my softest, most polite tone—that contrary to popular