The Southampton Review

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Extraordinary Rendition, 2004

No Paddington. I am called for where lost.
Rendition runs quiet as a limo,
a sewn mouth. White leather seats to Cairo.
Brother Tarmac. Sister Airstrip. The leased
little Gulfstream loves to fin through the dark—Please
find inside any sac hood. Brother Shackle.
Sister Sedative. “He had several
expressions which he kept for emergencies.”
But nothing may linger: bruises, records.
Like leaving a bear alone with marmalade.
Brother Deny. Sister Sticky Emptiness.
What remains is returned by bad dreams. Mine, workaday.
My captors’, patriots from where they nurse their pets’
infections. Brother on-all-fours. Sister stained pelts.