THE TENANTS
barrel scraper
the tenants, blown in by an acrid wind
their eyes/appetites congenial to the locust
self-centredness fashions itself into blindness
Their activity achieves everything
synonymous with barrenness
The host/parasite differential, oblique
another day, a thousand conniptions
landscaper
The oceans pine
to spew their secrets
and each manmade tower begs
to crumble into them
How long must everything
both wait and continue
How long until we hear the rocks
knit their groans with ours
The axe will be sharpened
with perfection
The uprooting will be complete
Patience, My child
friend of prostitutes
my face was made of maggots
my house was made of maggots
every square inch
living, burning garbage
recklessly You came to Gehenna
never-ending scarlet
cauterised as You bled
one drop
washed everything away
You rebuild
using only
the costliest wood
the most beautiful fragrance
a drought for the spirit
in the marshland
where your half-life dragged you
God is there
his hands and feet are brutalised
having knit you together
before you unravelled and bedewed
like a mattress of straw
every living thing is held
accountable
a dragnet for the body
for a cup of cold water
the deathbed spaceman is ready
to reveal locations
and confess
the crucible never was washed
the cardboard was re-used
the hypnotist had a second job
death stalked everything with breath
these bedsores are older than you
bag overseer
I know the warden
He dines with captains
fattened from banquets
then feeds me stale bread
when friends fail
to help him walk
he declines to a crawl
careful not to wake the dead
miles, perhaps years
from water
he knows things
he will never tell
pretending to be tireless
sleep evades him
he yearns to remove his flesh at night
hang it over a rail
unbind him from the residue and spores
bag overseer
I know the warden
He dines with captains
fattened from banquets
then feeds me stale bread
when friends fail
to help him walk
he declines to a crawl
careful not to wake the dead
miles, perhaps years
from water
he knows things
he will never tell
pretending to be tireless
sleep evades him
he yearns to remove his flesh at night
hang it over a rail
unbind him from the residue and spores
imposter experience
we veered to the body
in the shallows
a signal penetrating sleep
it is dead so we take it on board
we are under control
aberrant light
full of shadow and turning
fragments us
we throw our treasure overboard
to make space for more water
we do everything barely communicating
the course alters
no longer are we manned
water becomes the vessel
lathe-turner
I’m a defector
come hunt me downriver
if you put a sword to my neck
make sure it’s properly severed
otherwise I will be the beacon
guiding kings to their caves
drawing others out
to replenish the graves