seventeen

dreamscape

 

i don’t know how to sleep,

it hurts being awake.

the soft lamp’s buzz,

the trees blowing away.

 

it hurts — a little — hurts again,

a bullet in the throat.

 

i don’t know anything.

it hurts to know.

one of the violets dances

on the windowsill.

 

it rots — in me — advanced decay,

a dried up fruit.

 

no bone,

no seed.

the endless sea.

astray,

i go

to someday grow

again,

your eyes —

so many miles

to creep,

go down

and see the one.

 

the blue space of my table light,

the homeless moon, a better friend,

kiss my forehead at hollow nights,

whisper when we reach the end.

 

serenading the stars, singing

laments. sending wasteful loves

every way.

everything is May, sea

pearls are shining in my ears,

i am not shedding any tears, and in eternal

night, an eastern

goddess of the ancient world appears.