linen.spasming(dying.heat);
graveyard.stiffens;
poker_leashed(at.distance);
writhing_through.ashes;

he.scavenges.forest.for.wood;
blade.sharpened(sweating.sun);
hand.trained;
always.extended.backward;
snapping(off.route);

fevered.duplicate—
lost&found;
boxed;
refusing.closure.
passing.for.whole.

easy.now;
death.sniffs;
kinder.than.man;

axe(rage_forged.in.backbone.marrow);
vicious;
abrupt;
trunk.flowering(open);
bloodline.fermenting(legacy.rot);

don’t.fear(falling);
you.clung.past.seasons;
bark.wept(sour.blood);
exhale(last.feral.breath);
watch.me.maul(your.sacred.name);

steady.rasping;
splintered.hands
rip.down.your.branch;
severed.clean;

ancestorless.carcass;

tree.armless(); // mutilated.amputee
mother(rooted.by.your.stump);
proof(her.eyes.softened.once);

resin.scent.floods.my.lungs;
holy.smokes;
deadwood—
useful.at.last.
set.alight.

flame.laps.her.cold.hands;
ungodly.bonfire.

[image.credit: ‘Schhh’ by Simon Cederquist 1945]