IF

If birth is like

a fish being dragged

out of water

and 

life is like

a convulsive thrust

in hope of an ocean

then _______

BODY / MIND

My body / my strange animal

sends messages from the war front

that I can't decipher.

My mind / my desperate Descartes 

seeks the soothing false balm

of disintegration.

IMMUNITY

My immune response
a midnight red flag
unfurling down my back.

My assailant
some mysterious threat;
I am suddenly alien.

Emergency waiting room;
the tyranny of linoleum;
desperate passivity.

Steroids and antihistamine;
the flag is slowly folded;
my assailant remains a mystery.

EDEN

Every rib intact
Every body named

The god-snake
deconstructs

Story begins

RECAPITULATION 2

My jesus gravity
still wants
to pull in everything:

word
deed
history

good shepherd
fallen off the page
(more lost
than any sheep).

my myths
my mistress heart
my truth

my brooding babylon

from no hands
from no church

gravity
sheer gravity;
my soul.