The Well

Downtowne Coffeehouse
12oz Soy Black Swan
Pumpkin/Banana Muffin


The Well

The well is no less deep
and every time
I fall just as far
break the same bones
tear the red skin
that had no time
to knit scars.

I'd have ripped them open anyway
with fingernails
with knives
with a thousand guilty verdicts,
or a thousand tiny smiles
that shine only in my mind.

Maybe that's why I return...
why I tread the green grass
down to the bone,
round every corner
of this black circle of stone,
and stretch too far
beyond the edge...
to glimpse that siren light.

A spark of light
that flared,
that died.
A mushroom cloud of hope
against a starless sky.

That I snuffed out like a match
dropped down
this black hole
in the ground,
sizzling as it drowned.

Before I ascend again,
by rough handholds
worn smooth,
I'll tread a while
in salty water
blood
and bone,
and drown
in the lost light
of fallen stars.