Evidence
by Julie Roorda

Yesterday you found one of my hairs
lodged between your teeth
like unwaxed dental floss.
I wondered whether these pieces
retain any sense of me.

They say hair and nails continue
to grow when a body dies --
so they might still be alive
when cut or plucked or filed.

And if they are alive and there is a link
I might just transfer consciousness
to that bit that has sallied forth
to the unknown crevice
between your gums and your plaque
like a Mars land rover

and it might twang back
messages in Morse code
saying "There is life here!"

But like all good spies,
they can be used against me.
Mould those toenails into a doll
and you could control me,
swallow that hair
and I’ll never leave.

Or they might of their own accord
take on our forms
like thousands of shattered broom bits
commanded by a sorcerer’s apprentice,
and sense who we are
even when we don’t.

They’ll stand on end
or dig into skin
to see our future

and when our hair and our nails
have continued to grow
for a time after death
-- only then will we know
why they stop.