Photo by michael weir on Unsplash

I look at my childhood
& imagine what isn’t there

archived
                        blank pages
partially erased artifacts

we all live in a barter system
trading our favorite worst memories

I social you a tongue
I appeal you a slanted pear orchard throat
                    & we share it gladly

I research myself &
                     feel intrinsically disengaged
with my own subjective history

how satirically we pluck apart owl pellets
little masses of bone & fur
delicate in their rounded assemblage

this is how we become a collective

in our fury we de-mouth the sun
rip away flare & tangled magnetic field

sticky bandages      sour wounds

what is our purpose here?
we want to leave behind nothing
named              nothing alive & curious

here:
               the winedark sea
                        bloodgap   sea

home of two-headed rat & blind raccoon

to love something it must be impermanent

we feel we’ve been here before
torn away our hair at the roots
                        leaving us blood-scarred

something will disappear tomorrow
& we’ll praise the light despite our terror

when we think of nothing at all
we find god in our unconscious
        light-headed & empty