Within lagoons its sins did
feed upon its perception,
                  Churning in a vacuum
                   of malevolent damnation.
Its singular words corrupted
white satin, soiled by its pestilence.
                   Like lacerations upon the substance
                      it lingered like vines consuming.
A soul drowned within pools of scarlet death
Malignant smiles on a polluted husk.

Blasted armor cracked open with holes
Watch as I crawl on my knees til I find
The right place to stand. Pay no mind
To the pain wracking burned flesh to
The pain of memories empty now
In regret after so many years spent
Trying to escape, desperately forget
All of the wounds that made me the
Fire I am.

These days my fire still burns down low
I can't forget if I wanted and I did and
And it drove me underneath. Unearth
Me now in this old aching body to
Undermine my quest for rest.
I sure it's just death now bringing
Death and I'm a part of it.

Cog. In the dirt. Wet earth.
I rise. With all of my brethren.
Reclaim. Reclaimers hunt and
Claim during night. Safety in
Day. That's a queer sunset isn't it?

I came here ******, left the same way,
Returned with cracks in the head
And a heart of mud full of maggots
As an *****. We all did. We do.
We all did.

Hollow husk of man sits in dark room
A tickling of the cardiac muscle

Putting the receiver
to the cupped side
of my leaning face,
I'll listen to an old,
dead phone, a husk
with a sound echoing
inside like a seashell:

I tune into the static
as if they were waves
sweeping in and out
of my eardrum, hear
the whisper of voices
asking the operator
to pass on last sighs.