Don’t breathe!
Too late, they’ve pierced
every word inside you.

Now when you speak
the sparrow will fall,
when you pray
all heaven bleeds.

And the pins fly on,
like seeds from a flower
blown in no paradise.

Brad Richard
from his book Habitations
Portals Press, 2000
used by permission of the poet
and with express permission of Portals Press

Listen to Brad Richard reading his poem, “Invisible Pins.”