daffodils unfurl,
green stems scaffold the essence
of spring's ambition.

Worn shoes -
friction burns on tired soles;
griddled pancake strides.

Scuffed leather -
peeling flakes of desiccated fruit
kiss frayed laces;
knotted serpent tongues.


Burning in Nevada;
a thousand miles from carpenter's tools,
a hundred steps from Vegas lines.

You are scissors -
steel blades striding
over naked flesh,
sinking like boots into mud -
geysers of frothing blood.

Trip and rust in my guts
you *******;
then sleep in my innards.

Flailing arms in minestrone soup,
grasping ropes in gloopy slop.

Slippery snakes in slippy hands;
bobbing bereft in beefy broth.

Croutons swirl - a death knell eddy
clumping in a bread bricked tomb.

You whispered in my ears
when darkness shrouded
my innocence.

A black paged lexicon
of nuanced threats
I grew to fear.

lightning illuminates
****** signatures

    as thunder rumbles
and consequences quake

tumbles through
tenebrous caves;
slow erosion
lost in clacking
echoes -
ephemeral
puffs of dust.