A VOID

 A VOID

a static feast, platters heaped
high with cruel and violent
delights—some rendered as
sweetmeats, some as overcooked
steak—carbonized until transformed
into something antitoothsome and
ferociously in need of
mastication beyond any normal mouth…

hence, and so, the demons
of some forlorn and two faced
month crawl from their suburban
hells, to celebrate some crude
and broken Agonalia, too eager
to offer the sacrifice—only willing
to read if the text is haruspical—
to sail if the sea is spittle—
to hear if the scream is
far beyond paranymic—to be

only if they can be
nearly empty vessels of need,
yawping mouths wide and yowling,
mewling, amok, crying out for
the ghost of a meal
they had only ever dreamed.

MONTHS OR DAYS OR HOURS

lost year we // sharpened our
mole claws // blundered, blind,
out under // that sometimes sun

sometimes cloud // mostly empty,
always unrepentant // our mouths gone,
whispered off // somewhere else, some

where better // to turn our backs
out, sit & unsit // dreaming of empty
halls as lonely as // Heorot, unmonstered

unfeasted, unsung // unpeopled & battered,
all our solipsistic // voices, unmoored from
any true mouth // screaming, coughing

HERE IS OUR LONG FOREVER //
IT UNMAKES US SO VERY WELL

elbows knocking // shall we dance
away to that always // dimming dusk
what use are tongues // if we cannot taste

what use our tongues // if we shout
as loud without // our teeth still true,
our bite as feral // our hunger grown

sup with us // this break fast on
our own lungs // our own tongues,
sink your jaws // wholly separate

from any face // ‘nto your neighbors
heart, we are // so discrete, our
meal we made // the reservation

we have finally kept.

knowing my dreams are dreams makes them no less stressful

the air between us now, all needles and sulfurous furnaces
some casual cruelty come, bleach white and fuming
shall I cup my hands again, a chalice to catch your sick
shall I cast it ‘pon the kitchen floor, read you our future
all chunks and spatters // your mouth too many teeth
shall I teach you to swallow some, shall we gather, go
unforgiven again, lain down in muddy fields, waiting
to be plowed under, do you know that I am tired, that
another day waits beyond yet another damned dawn.

ASIDE

ASIDE

rubiconical, decided.

you make your mouth

into the door you slip

out through.

a maze you 'forget'

to bring the twine

of your eyes into.

'stead your fingers

seek the limits of that

enclosed path.

you left the end already,

you left your shoes and

feet, but your tongue and

fingertips will never cease.