Starch

Starch 6/18

What is this anger - this hollowness

I seem to carry a bucket in my belly
            sloshing meniscus swirl - the liquid is a sap
sweet - sure of itself like the wind

Maples know they bleed amber
            parade helicopters with searchlights
calling - bees get caught here

When I dreamt of mother packing - her dead sister
at the window - the roof was leaking
even with holes
            buckets will move you somewhere

That void of reasoning -
            heart-valve of the sternum - branch
of the cock - places where you feel the cold
in summer

I cannot fathom this ocean
Pictures of everyone twist into a brown mess - it hums
            pallid - teeth opening flytrap

The pink in there is too inviting
Smell of honey too intoxicating

I will carry the suitcase onto the ferry for her
            it will fill with ash - earth
aspen leaves collected on the Sangre de Christo slope

Now this is my funeral
            handfuls of dirt - the coffin echoes a storm
pebbles - endless

And will I carry myself out of here
            on the backs of giants - say -
rolling along the shoulders of horseshoe crabs

The banging sound - wood clotting
            its own blood - sealing it in stone

After the echo stops - there is the sound of eyes -