It begins
with the bestial belly-hum
of the island, broad caverns bulging
with seawater –
salt slithers up stalactites,
warms the roots of gaunt trees which
whisper to the world above.
The ocean is taking us, they say.
In blood haste, kings lose themselves
amid the black ink veining
their parchment.
Promises, proclamations –
they lower their last words into the incomplete earth.
The hourglass is turned –
and the island holds her breath.
A frothy finger claws at the shore,
its serpentine strength
p u l l i n g
down braille forests and ballad rivers,
devouring the organism and its fleeting language.
She pulses; she perishes.
To the west, the jellied sun
dips into the water and jerks back – it is cold.
with the bestial belly-hum
of the island, broad caverns bulging
with seawater –
salt slithers up stalactites,
warms the roots of gaunt trees which
whisper to the world above.
The ocean is taking us, they say.
In blood haste, kings lose themselves
amid the black ink veining
their parchment.
Promises, proclamations –
they lower their last words into the incomplete earth.
The hourglass is turned –
and the island holds her breath.
A frothy finger claws at the shore,
its serpentine strength
p u l l i n g
down braille forests and ballad rivers,
devouring the organism and its fleeting language.
She pulses; she perishes.
To the west, the jellied sun
dips into the water and jerks back – it is cold.