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A recorded reading of “The Rim Grows Teeth”. If the player does not load, use the original audio source.
My left boot teaches gravity to bark. My right boot has already mailed itself to the bottom of the world. Below me, the canyon opens its red library— shelf after shelf of burnt bread, old planets, teeth from a god who bit the sun too hard. The sky keeps its blue behind clenched glass. It is a clean animal holding its breath above the crime scene of distance. My laces wriggle white, two tiny snakes trying to sign my name on the air. No one answers. The cliffs keep their rusted mouths shut. The shadows gather in committees. Somewhere down there a stone dreams it is a comma in the red sentence of the drop. I thought I was sitting on the edge. Then the edge sat on me. It placed one warm red hand over my chest and sent its dust up through my ribs: small thing, borrowed thing, blue-jeaned spark with weather in your knees— my boot-sole fills with a teaspoon of cliff. So I pull back one inch from the alphabet of dust, and the canyon, disappointed, turns another page.
Lyrics
Rim grows teeth. My left boot learns to shake. My right boot wants the fall. Red shelves under my heel, stacked like planets in the wall. Sky holds blue behind glass. Cliffs won't say my name. White laces twist like snakes, signing nothing in the air. I thought I owned the edge. Then the edge owned me. The rim grows teeth. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. Dust climbs through my ribs. Heat lays hands on my chest. A stone waits down below, like a comma holding breath. My knees fill up with weather. My sole takes in the cliff. One inch feels like mercy. One inch feels like a gift. I thought I owned the edge. Then the edge owned me. The rim grows teeth. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. Small thing. Blue-jeaned spark. I crawl back. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. I pull back from the rim. I still wanna live. The canyon turns the page. I let it turn the page.
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