while I sleep in the holes of my eyes
fear keeps me awake

two ancient rocks are tapping inside
my skull

a bouquet of cinnabar red
and jade
sick and coagulated
crawls
from my mouth

thrust of maw

strum of hallooed machinations

twisted zounds

quivering to the beat
of this thud

..............I try to withdraw
the hook of my head
and put
in its place
a wooden-peg leg

* * *

..........as my eyes open
I depart raging
on my
oblong streel
hemorrhaging
[spurts] of inky fluid

junked arias

plumes of snakes

rise up

from the imagination of hell

..........I see the sky replaced
by the face of someone
I know

.........stars crouch like jaguars
caught between
my fingers

...................eternity stretches
my pocketwatch down
to my ankles
through the floor

I must dissolve so I can love you

* * *

the flavor of blood unto mouther
assembles in my heart

.................buxom seeds
trickle through my veins
swim from
the tips of my breasts...unfurl
on my thighs

.......on my lip my heart is
a cuckoo for god
flapping
inside the tongue

.............on my tongue sits
a winged emerald
flapping like a jackhammer
of postmortem fear

I sigh like sweet olives

.............sparkle
..........and
.......burn

and this
my spangled heart
is how I learn
to die

-Dave Brinks

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