Curve of the cave wall's arm
flaking bodies
that each take blood from rock
the hard hat soup
of rock and rolled brains
a chisel in a beam of light
driving wax from bone
as the coat racks rustle
hard benches in the dancing heels
lamp shades on the scum wreck
spiderweb of decks with lint beds
shale marker on the wall
punched with cotton rope
a pendulum of names
is the strap of the mask
landing on a laundry pile
thick with the spit of whiskey
and the chains dazzling
on the levels of the spirit
they have draped
the knife in the foot this far
to birth-grip the handle.