Hallow

i would sacrifice my words

my altar is bared

i am silenced

by your touch

steal from me

these sorrowful verses

rest your tongue

against my sacred heart

stroke new languages

into my texts

split me to the core

force out joy

please, hold me down

reward my reverence

drench yourself

in the sea

of my pleasure

bind me to the worship

of you:

this is

god and heaven

earth and sky

i need no aphorisms

i need no rhyme

denotation and connotation

are in the arch of my spine

and the thrust of your hand

your heat is

Pali, Aramaic, Avestan

the taste of myself

on your lips

blossoming

oh, this is my endless

holy doctrine

begging

for your infinite names

so that i may

recite each one

with the violent

stroke of your palm

this is

Trayastrimsa, Araboth

oblivion

 

in you

i would

sacrifice my words:

my submission

is poetry, whispered

while kneeling

at the temple

of your flower

—

Response to Ruby Kiddell’s Wank Wednesday challenge. The prompt for this week was #word. Check out the other submissions here.

Omen

the older man

the younger man

and the marks

on his hands

still haunt my

grey hours

a fleeting omen

 

this childhood dream

the men in their

tangle

reading the cards:

the tower

the nine of swords

the lovers

and me

 

in ruin

his lungs filled with smoke

he shows me his scars

those marks

“this is how you fall”

he says

“for everyone

you cannot please”

 

what they said about him

so innocent

so sweet

and now

prey to ashes

and stray heartbeats