"Every angel is terrifying."
                                                            Duino Elegies - Rilke
great grandfather soiled the family tree

lifted his penis high in the air

and peed on its trunk

the stump of my mother
great aunt had young lovers

and hidden amongst the foliage of time

stories lurked in cupboards

behind the smiling faces of fading photos
three sisters wear each other’s clothes

while their mother rocks her lovers

in the marital bed, the dead father’s photo

swinging in time on its nail
we are of bastard stock it seems

look in the mirror myself

and see the Cossack rape

full moon face, blonde hair, blue eyes
mother silent over winter snow

and frigid with her frosty breath

covers her mouth with a scarf

so we cannot see the chilling truth
the dead sclerose my dreams

hated oddities, they fall out

like unwanted fetuses

curled up inside their beginnings