Disquiet

Falling inward I taste the sun
And swallow whole hook line and sinker
Evaporation takes the beads of light
So long enjoyed as wisdom

The dogs of autumn chase the dust
And bark at cattle passing
I taste the air and smooth my hair
And cast my limbo shadow

Being not bound by duties base
Nor visions of heaven scented
This dragon’s breath peels the paint
That the centuries cast upon

The face of a nation’s plunders
Legitimised lobotomised pseudo-serene
Stripped to skulls in pyramid piles
Here or there or somewhere in-between

Head and claws for ant empires to anger
Surround impound and set in stone
Worship a past too clean for comfort
Where eyes upraised a fantasy deluded

But who am I to pass these pints
Of blood and bone and ether
I who have no pedestal to stand in stone
Nor right the height to claim

And falling from this fever dream
I find my mouth is full of feathers
You hold me close and kiss my throat
And name me chicken killer


September 2009

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