Stretch

I cast my skin wide
And let the world enter
Through a blister;

Smoke stacks smudge
Exhausts pepper
Automatic rifles puncture.

The oceans swell in my cheeks
And I spit;
Rocks. Debris. Endangered species.

The cities like vast sores spread,
Transforming flesh to steel.
Air travel ceases.

What kind of illness
Could sabotage a mind
That contains a planet?

Yet I feel every question you ask
And know like Job,
The whirlwind has no answers.

Methods

Looking for profundity
from the seat of comfort
is like looking for virgins
in our high schools.

You have to get scraped.
You have to rip pants.
You have to lose traction
on your shoes.

Looking for god
in this or any universe
is like watching television
or maybe it's like a fish.

You have to lose your mind.
You have to shutter your heart.
You have to clap your hands
and get up at 3am.

A Certain Dread

Nimble dread touches everything,
Makes the Autumn leaves afraid.
It visits every wedding
And makes the bride turn away.

It waits near every mirror
Turning lipstick into ash
It stalks around each corner
Answers questions that you ask.

There it goes a-fluttering
Disturbing children in their sleep;
Of all the baubles cluttering
It's the one you get to keep.

Birds

There is something endlessly flapping
In my heart.

It cocks its head and aches for warm weather,
Feeling called to anywhere else.

Maybe in another life I could have been a sigil,
Or at least stuffing for a pillow.

In this life, however, I must be content
To peck my own eyes out.