garbanzo

it was a windy restlessness
a stir, a movement away
which put me out here with the stars

it was a chance meeting
an exchange, an accord
with preparations and contrivances

it was a great blue beast of steel
with fire drive, and guns
galleys, decks, and quarters

it was these which put me out here
but it was stone which put me out

a stone
ancient and ferrous, but otherwise plain
faster than life, wholly uninvited
and hardly even seen

straight away it struck
my eyes gripped, my body lashed
up and down took flight

I screamed a gutty cry
reached, missed, spun
and still I spin

with nothing now to hold
not a ripple, not a grip
I relax, knowing, and wane

the blue beast gone
my fingers numb, and creak
the air once full grows thin

It’s hard to count the stars
through the gossamer web of cracks
painted on my visor by the stone

but words take form among the threads
‘perchance’ ‘lust’ ‘bloom’
reflected in cold, stale light



I chill, feeling less
a muddiness bogs
and slows my thoughts

misfiring synapses
cast electrical flavors
across my tongue

my ears ring, piercing
it breaks the silence, but I,
I cannot tell

my eyes close, and darkness breaks
I see grass, and light
but still I feel cold

at last I fade, the stars have won
they brought me here and now,
they watch me go