I responded to all the calls
for inspiration, some from
the mouth that drowns in fire.

Watched sea horses file
across the plaster cast of my tongue
and find a beloved screen.

Adored the ones impossible to keep
for life or replication
surfed their floors and ceilings
in an entertaining blaze of suicide.

After the psychic action
the drum beats and the terror
of a tipped buffet
the hunted coming back to life
I hung up on the strained electrocution
sat down in an evacuated place
and watched the rings fade outward
into blind space.