#task v

quiet now, play me the scheherezade                 while we register our hands as weapons                 and boil salt water to keep warm

we will make our way through winter                 winding yarn around murderous hands                 waltzing a jagged two-step, out of time

we will dream of bones and wild wood                 calloused hands unraveling the string                 of the cat’s cradle resting on our knuckles

we will run away in spring                 salt flats reflected in eyes                 hands cutting through                 seasons; all the while that                 song following us, reaching                 with fingers of crooked bones

and roars

and rages against the brick walls.

Outside, the rain pounds

and splashes

and pours on the pavement of the parking lot.

Outside, the thunder booms

and crashes

and the lightning flashes in the sky.

But here, inside, we can’t hear the wind.

We can’t feel the rain.

We can’t see the lightning.

Inside, we are howling

with laughter

as we tell each other stories.

Inside, we are pounding

on the floor with our feet

as we dance around the room.

Inside, we are booming

feeling the drumbeat in our hearts

as we fill the halls with music.

Though there, outside, the storm rages on,

we are not afraid of stormclouds,

STORM, x.v

Dorothy lying on the floor upstairs,

Wind-spread, lollipop tongue burned pink,

Ankles uncrossed,

undone,

unknown.

When all that’s left of the body are the

Toes, Who’s to say the body was

There at all,

That you are not just empty foundations

And shake-slam wind;

That you are not what the hurricane

Has made you.

Sure, he was cowardly, sure when he

Growls it’s cuz his heart is knocking:

He still growled, and bit, and tore,

And sometimes the lions don’t get forgiveness,

And sometimes the lions don’t deserve

My fucking forgiveness,

No matter how much they whimpered

As they ate.

I am body of tin, tin, tin,

Tin can, batter-me can,

Make-me-something-new can.

Just cuz I’m metal,

Doesn’t mean I won’t break,

That my straw won’t dark

When you set me on fire,

And my shiny won’t crack,

And just cuz I’m a hurricane,

Doesn’t mean I can’t be left,