with salt upon the wounds of her skin
circles the half mast flag of encrypted muse.
as drags her lungs on burning leg of lamb
so begins the death of passageways and streams;
once bright eyes of damsel in her summer frock
pours upon the heart of the fielded fence of guard
her malted wine for the browning of a crust
for the drowning of the days disparaged lust;
with gifts flown in from craters of the flame
beneath the flesh of sun now burns the tortured worm.
from hand to mouth
from cradle to a moth
so bakes the swollen womb of pregnant broth;
with salt upon the wounds of her skin
where chalks the shaven head on woodland stalk
the whites of eyes pretending to a child
where forks the tongue of twisted lullabies;
how sweet this mother of barley as she sleeps
as weeps the bitterness of her tortured breasts.
from hand to mouth
from cradle to a moth
still bakes the swollen womb of pregnant broth;