Threesome, and: Divorce Apparition along the Road to Emmaus

Abstract

Threesome, and: Divorce Apparition along the Road to Emmaus Thomas Dooley (bio) Keywords Thomas Dooley, church, wreath, service, love, divorce THREESOME It is writtenfor where two or three gathera church appearswhere our communionbecomes hot at the vergesof what we touchall night on the edgeof charismatic and from abovewe are joineda wreath of lighthow our bodiesspell the three letters of one godif you run two fingersover the relief of our namewe translate an ecstasyreached through serviceso let us snuff the bright wicksas if by dutywe become custodiansof one body [End Page 175] DIVORCE APPARITION ALONG THE ROAD TO EMMAUS On that very dayhe would leave me for good,my love drew nearand walked with me. Beside the sea,outside a stony gate,he gave the impressionhe was going on farther and without me. But I said, stay.It is nearly night,our rooms will bruise with bluefrom the sea, so he took me inside broke inside meand I broke on him, his chestblessed with opal.I climbed off to lift the towel from its hookto clean him, anoint himas I went to lifta last relic to be boxed and moved out. I stood dressed,looked to him asleep in our messof sheets and I could seeI was made known to myself [End Page 176] in the breaking of our life.No longer thinned blue in these roomsfor I had bones and flesh.It is written, suffer to rise, so clothed, I walked out the doorto the sea. I ate baked fishand bread to prove by hungerI was not ghost but man. [End Page 177] Thomas Dooley thomas dooley is the author of Trespass (National Poetry Series) and the forthcoming collection, The Perpendiculars. He is on faculty at the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at UCSD. Copyright © 2023 The Massachusetts Review, Inc