He found me with a gaping chest wound
And cauterized me with a brand
Called it collateral damage
But when it came time to deliver
The wax seal was deemed to beautiful
It was decided my contents should remain a mystery

The vowels have no breath
The consonants have no spine
The intention never was
What wasn't never does
What doesn't ever wants
A paper airplane in a fiery crash
No black box, 10 seconds to ash
I'd rather be put through a shredder
And when mania sets in - pieced together
Or at least confetti for some wedding
Or a kenneled kittens bedding
But, alas, I'll simply decompose
A muffled scream, a frantic ghost

I asked you how it felt to carry me
You shrugged, dropped a deadweight apology
And drifted ahead, dumb and silent
Non-responsive, the task complete
Abraham was Don Quixote the second he saw blood
You were St. Paul

Ducking the mantid mandibles of a consummate morning
I thrash in half-dream slog and squish
Amniotic chrysalis, unsplit, darkened
Adrift an ocean of bliss in a water balloon

The rain is brittle
The snow is jagged
And the sky is funneling loneliness
Down the icy porcelain chutes
To the tired murk of unholiness
Where excuses are wallpaper
And the blues are gift-wrapped

Bluebirds with batwings
Sing hymns to their hatchlings
In the din of eternal hiss
The chirp of absurdity listens
On the lip of a fleur-de-lis

In the starvation of exile
Gambling on bright colors
Rapt, *****, fate-accepting hunger
Tugs vicious on the leash
Faint taste of apples
And mistletoe cramps
Among the Cypress, Cedar, Pines
That cross my path
In fog as full as clouds
Fusion of memory and idea
Crowds the milky doom
Where monarchs relax
Strawing gaseous milkweed
I sip from the sky
And await my crown