#crabtown

Cover from: Crabtown Cook Book. Hampton, Virginia : Woman’s Society of Christian Service, First Methodist Church, 1965?

the trees stay their course they are not blood-tipped

yellow now the sun reflects purple bruises onto the hills

crackling gold canary trees sing themselves into winter

the trees have eyes they shut their blinding irises to the cold

the soil has become porous the architecture under the earth is melting under our white bones

this fading lattice of roots and minerals gives way to dark tunnels hidden for several hundred years colonial time capsule infrastructure

from it ancient invertebrates climb dull, unlike brilliant beetles dull and quick unlike moist and luxurious worms dull and quick and droning unlike the hymns of hibernating bees

these barely-beasts are the currency of frights a crunching hungry language made hard and tireless

they are the unlikely substitution in another recipe written on stretched hide with a twisting knife tip

we will dig up the old knives and raid our kitchens for hefty tools grow our nails out jagged and sharp work our jaws across their brittle exoskeletons fragments of chitin flay from our mouths and into the cold air

our knuckles will shuck off the armor our blood mingling with their soft curdling meat salt sprays icy as the carcasses, littered in tiny examples, refresh and refertilize

we will make quick peace of this we will spit the armies of the dead out

into a sweet dark morass

crush their entrails to sugar and floral molasses

touch your body furiously celebratorily conspiratorially in exaltation

eat toast lathered in butter cinnamon and brown sugar

make fictions your own fantasy is a valid spell it’s okay to find peace in dragons asylum is singular

wreathe your thoughts in honey and drool them lovingly on others

we need each other’s mucus

save someone’s blood like a ruby like a tender artifact

invite your animals onto you smile quietly at them bask in their spirit survival is contagious warm yourself in your familiar creatures

eat chocolate, ripe fruits, and cheese

watch the moon every night inhale as it waxes exhale as it wanes

let the sun pierce you with light

walk your heart to feed its exuberance and speak your mind whenever it sparks

Milk Glass Insect’s Wings - (species TBD) - The Stolen Siren’s Croak

snatched from her throat

Eggs 3 Silver Knives Cat’s Prints in Dust Faint Wet Songs

they hang in the corners of your bedroom like Thunder’s cobwebs String Red Hairs - singe the ends

bottle the smoke

Fresh Sage Lavender Poppies

also known as Velvet’s Trio

Soft Butter Right Angles of Your Skin (trimmed) Honeycomb Soap

The Gaze of Songbirds - their delicate floral vectors - Preserved in Pink Sugar