once

a visceral rescission from the lip

a syrup glint of fermentation

your nephew’s hair in the sunlight

the way a vein of caramel catches

in the brownie of the throat

            liquid singe of the tongue

a pose captures in bodies

across time we forget the clear

age a flower before fruit

                        a limpening onion in the saucepan

                                    a crystalized California we inhabit                   

you hold a tear in your eye like a waxed lemon

a spider with legs raised to strike

                        another ray of web mistaken

                                    for a glimpse of cotton caught

            on the opposing window frame of the night

                        we held Malibu in resin

Meredith MacLeod Davidson is a poet and writer from Virginia, currently based in Scotland, where she earned an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. Meredith's work is published or forthcoming inThe London Magazine, Propel Magazine, Cream City Review, Canthius, Redivider, Gutter, and elsewhere.