The overgrown fetus does not shiver
here. Splayed like a downed bird
head under brittle arms, one eye open to
nothing. Do you see your birthright in the darkness
Dove? Do you swoop in
my wake as you sleep? Yes, dream
your keen searching stare
and your downy talons on my back
parting skin like clouds.
Still you crack and pool
and putrefy on unyielding stone
for wrath is silent without air.

A passage
Once
Engulfed by an invigorating
Sea of pitch
Now transformed
By the ceaseless streaming of sand
To a cavernous crypt
Harassed by light unwelcome
Dank from the runoff
Of stagnant pools
Of thoughts outworn.
Cracks and crevices obscure
A multitude of doors -
          Each with its own black sea
          All but one with their own dank caves.

I search my pockets for clues gathered along the way -
Reclusive bits of knowledge
That burrow deeper to avoid my grasp.
The slow ones I reach
And they unwillingly reveal their prize
Shrinking some doors, enlarging others.
My choice is more limited now
But still unclear.
This is the final choice
And I know I must choose carefully.
I muster all my courage and open a door
Instantly recognizing the fulfilling blackness
Of a thousand other doors I have chosen.
I step forward . . .
          And hope.

You turn on the music,
The tv,
And the radio;
To scare the silence away.
You’re scared that it will separate you from you.

You cling to the fear like a dying atheist,
Unsure what there is to come.
You are too busy living as a child,
And an old man.
You are running away from you.

You are being chased by your ghost,
Followed by the echo of the future and the past.
Body degrading in a crypt,
Below your carpet.
The smell wreaks of the death of you.

The vacuum of your mind is ******* you in.
You ask the person in the pool,
“Where is the person I recognize?”
The person asks the question too.
Your thoughts have become you.

Terrified of the life I live,
Looking for a way out.
I’m forgetting how to live.

As I try to find my way,
To the life I seek to claim,
I’m forgetting how to live.

The crypt is one thing I see,
A mirror that reflects me.
One that lives is one who hates.
One that died is one love waits.