I.
SILENCE!
THE THUNDEROUS
HUNGER THUNDERS!
The gongs of the
walls of my tremulous belly summon the hour
like so many
triangles
on the ranch.
RING A LING LING
LING LING! COME AND GET IT!
boys.
come and get it.
The scent has
called them
Long ago
From their
labours.
they labour.
They sniff.
RING A LING LING
LING! COME AND GET IT! BEHOLD!
THEY COME TO GET IT! AT LONG LAST
THEIR SWEAT WILL BE REWARDED.
Their sweat.
Their
perspiration.
The succulent
juice of life and mere feral essence freshly squeezed from the tangerine of
God’s ultimate creation!
BEHOlD! MAN!
HE HUNGERS!
By the sweat of
his brow.
Brown brows bow in
the bowl of bolted bastions.
II.
So MANY YEARS AGO
I REMEMBER
I remember
I cry
AND REMEMBER
this knocking.
HARK! A MOUSE!
It scurries behind
yon panel of stainless steel.
We embrace. It is warm and yet inside so cold. Can it ever know me as I have known the
biting wind of the purpure twilight of dying romance?
Joanna.
yet still it
babbles to me.
in my arms it
whispers sweet nothings. the pipes knock
tenderly.
NO! There is no mouse!
No!
No!
MOTHER!
I will not call no
technician Never!
Never!
She speaks!
To me!
I must pull away
The lies
And All that keeps
me from Her.
The one who fills
me with filling.
Dust.
Oh, the DUST!
Grimy and dark and
sacred and dusty.
She knocks
again. She speaks again.
I stare
With longing
emerging from deep within my bowels
from the spot
The hollow spot
Where my appendix
used to be
fourteen years ago
before it
ruptured.
It was Removed
In a 54 minute
surgery.
i stare
It is dark. Into the dark.
I am engulfed.
III.
In an hour
I will sit at the
crumb-ridden table.
I will stare at
the dish rag in my hands.
i will regard with
shame
Shame!
The mustard on my
new white t-shirt.
I just bought it
yesterday.
I have taken all
that she would give to me!
EVERYTHING!
Why must I take?
Why!
Nothing remains
inside.
I am become death
The Destroyer
of AppETITES.
O CURSED
INCONTINENT APPETITE!
Filled.
Filled AGAIN.
Fulfilled.
The Cut
On my cold nose
STINGs.
The salty brine of
nostalgic remorse washes past it.
I think of the one
I have loved.
Loved too much.
She knocks.
