dearest

self-furrowing, these sloughs i dig

through skin.
i vision myself as dirt,

ploughed, the motion of heat in air.
the hot taste of essence-laden breath

hhhhh from upturned earth,
the grinding of the plough.


bah! you were never all i wanted,
veronica.
to turn you inside out,
magma spilt and roiling, blazing surface like a sun

hot on the tongue, eyes stretching,
each eyelash suddenly irradiate,
cheeks scored with fire
under the pressure
of that hot vision--

white to black like the plough of a scream through a throat
and vision a blank and sacramental taste:
veronica, i make myself your earth.

(lover, i hold out my hands and
nothing comes into them.
lover, i hold out my hands and
nothing
comes into them.)