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John Sexton

Exchanges

She gave me a heart-shaped stone. "Protect my heart," she said. I gave her a Green Lantern comic from the 1960's. When I was nine he had protected the world from evil. She gave me a silver hair. I kept it in an empty perfume bottle, invisible through the clear glass. I gave her a poem to charm the sea, for she had a fear of water. She gave me a crystal Buddha, bubbles and flaws preserved in its body. Inside it chaos was stilled. I gave her a malachite tortoise. A pebble, carved into a tiny benevolent god.

in the iris field
stepping into
her yielding footprint

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