TOUCH ME

we begin to touch again

because without it

the fire singes

our hair

skin and nails

without touching

we suffer eternally

you tell me

that here

in this great orifice

we must continue

touching else

remain

a giant flame

you wrap your arms

and your legs

around my body

and I wrap my arms

and my legs

around your body

and we tumble

through the horrid forest

on a float of human remains

a ball of fire

on the cusp of ignition

A FLOAT OF HUMAN REMAINS

you and I enter this love

on a float of

human remains

the crowd shifting

gouging mud

and slime

mouths lunging

at each side pleading

to be carried aboard

I have never been in love

they shout and bawl

there is so much

I have yet to do before the end

together they have begun

a strange dance

hairy and slobbery

glossy and raw

they do not know

what else to do

in the love parade

but to grip and tear

to hold onto

someone

something

anything that will stay

claw tracks of stars

and a telltale heart

A HORRIBLE FIRE

there is a horrible fire

everything is on fire

you and I

are on fire

the wind is on fire

the trees on are fire

the birds in the trees are on fire

the grass

the moss

the dirt is on fire

the worms and the ants

and the yellow jackets are on fire

the clouds are on fire

the sky is on fire

the birds in the sky on are fire

the creek is on fire

the fish in the creek

and the snakes in the creek

and the turtles in the creek are on fire

you and I are on fire

our laughter is on fire

our tears are on fire

our words are on fire

and only when we

touch each other

does the fire pause

you tell me

this is how

we begin

to love

again

and so

we begin

LOVE PARADE

THE HORRID FOREST

you get to know me

unconditionally

by chasing me

through the horrid forest

we know it is horrid

because it is

guarded by a puma

without head legs or tail

and to enter or depart

you must crawl

through one

of the pumas

three great orifices

here you fire beating

hearts at

my back as I run

between the savage trees

you call this falling

in love

throwing beating

hearts at me the hearts

pouring through me without delay

and when I look back at you

your hands aren’t actually

throwing heartbeats

as much as they are

heartbeats pouring

through you

and we’re not as much

playing a game

called magical dangers

as we are hovering over our bodies

listening to each other’s

hearts beat the sound

of a parade in the distance

drawing closer

with each and every breath

I become impossibly
a lullaby a lullaby
whispering into
darkness
impossibly
impossibly
echoing through
the embers of each

dissident dream
moving
forward and
backward until
there is only ash

utterly worn out
utterly clear

this is when you
tell me
I'm a ghost

that I've been a ghost
all along

and though the bats
always come back

and the crows
always come back

they will not recognize me crying
they did not recognize me dying

you tell me I cannot
leave this place
that I am

as much this farmhouse
as this farmhouse is me

as the tiny eye holes of my eyes
are cul-de-sacs
for wayward shadows


as my abandoned grin
is a gorge 
for a chorus 
of yellow jackets


you tell me
staying still is always
an ambush for bodies


you tell me
that father is now time


that mother is the white
walls that hold me
for all time


that the creek
is every 
word I've ever spoken


and out climbed love
and out climbed hate


pretending to be light
pretending to be cameras flashing
pretending to be bats wings
pretending to be children


praying for 
a long dark night of the soul
for cold hard stone
for shadows alone
for the long road home


you say you want
to find 
the unconditional self


but you have to begin
while I'm asleep

so you echo
through the embers
of each lullaby impossibly
moving forward
and backward
until there is only sleep

little boneless
little skinless

dream sparrows
to my eyelids

one facing upwards
one facing downwards
turned completely inside out

until they become
black holes
meteorites crashing
the fringe of voices

before they are
divided
among several hells

you seal me in the cave
in the bedroom
where children
were raised
for three days
and three nights

without food water light
sound or any sensory input

other than the cold
hard stone of
the cave floor and walls

to prove myself
unconditionally

by translocating
my physical
body to
the outside of
the sealed cave entrance

you call it
the long dark night of the soul

you say that many
who have tried
went insane
or died in the process

not merely because of isolation
and utter darkness
but because
it opened their subconscious
unleashing all their inner demons

you say that to succeed
I must make peace
with darkness
both internally and externally

the first night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I run along the road
and into the wood
under leaves
weeping

until I become
the groans
of an old forest

the earth as it was
before methods
of perception

the second night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I remove my legs
my arms
my genitals

my eyes ears nose
mouth head
and all my entrails

and lay there heart
beating open
its rib cage

a senseless
trial of strength

the third night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I am an abandoned farmhouse
and I am on fire
and there is a family

of five inside
of me

they run to the balcony
and father
leaps down first
to catch the children

but the children panic
and run
back inside
pursued by mother

the remains of all four
later found
together in the ashes

hands tightly clasping
the entrance of the cave