It was always about growing and now it’s
Keeping from dying-

It was always absorbing deep breaths and now it’s
Not letting the oxygen get to you. *

Name my blood and
Drink it, too.
Mixed with hot brine
Strain and Strangle
Bind and Condense
Congeal and Compress
Cook with pressure
And fasten the timer,

Talo lathered salted skin
But smelling like amber and sandalwood
And other impossible smells,

Or preserved in formaldehyde
Tan the hide-
However- you can-
Prevent the flesh from rotting.

I hike great lengths to evade the views-
To get into the dirt,
And away from all the selves in their self-ness,
To get close to the fungus and the worms,
And away from being a meal,
To be touched by the sun,
And nothing else,
But every time I look into a pool of
Mountain runoff I see
Every melted face-
Past & future
And I’m confronted-
Glaciers have thawed that will not freeze again.