Hours poured over me like sand

I looked for the reflection of a knife

to cut the rooted song out of my heart

my hands were swarmed with crawling grains

the rattled speakers drowned

I regained a moonstruck surface

bones withdrew around me

from the solid light

torn flowers from my ribs

keys opening forbidden drawers

in a distant room.

I swim uncertainly in the alien air

of a lifted curse, trying to throw off

the bedraggled phantom,

the facelessness of oceanic days

revealing no pulsing center.

Paths flicker in the breeding woods

I watch the tails of feminine spirits

beckoning the races

of the happily damned

the fullness of unbroken trances

fried orchids in a distant dance.