G-NT3806KSJP
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Austerity Measure

   




So                      we
    learned from the cat
hunting the sun
‘s sparse spot

lights  &      screaming
in       the direct
 ion of the kitchen––
austere & holding
onto our many
ways to be skin
                          ned          

            I showed
            up in the screen
           (window) then up in the
      screen     (pc)     
I stretched my spine
                           long until
            the storm star
     ted to suck
le          at my breasts

What        makes a
            mother?                 What
               a mammal?

I meant         to mean
     I found my ribs
uncountable   w/o
    prior touch
           Touchless       I love
                in the direction
of the kitchen             & then
                  in the direction 
of the kitchen 
            The sun spotting
                        the wood
             en   floorboards        

               Would

     n’t       the austere also
                        dress like this?

Also starting
    w/ blood & skin?                    

                        W/ one
                        sock
                        & then
                        the other?





Poet, essayist, interpreter & translator Day Heisinger-Nixon is the author of ROOM | ROOM | ROOM (forthcoming, Futurepoem, 2026). Raised in an ASL-English bilingual home in Fresno, California, they now live in Berlin.