I tended to eat dirt and wonder often
Grains of sand against my teeth, mandibles
grinding away like birds at Prometheus liver
Was this providence or promise or punishment?
Ripped stockings and fingertips red with cold
Cunning to rival the Empress of the island of pigs
Vanishing acts for the grand finale
I never paid attention to tutorial videotapes
I have lived far too many lives, love,
And tasted blood too often my own
And I have been broken before Pandora
with caged hope and quartz teeth
I stopped trying to save her after she stole my eyes
And let sphagnum moss blanket my regrets
Flat-iron burns to the tops of my ears and
"Suck in your gut"s marring in my pneuma
I have abandoned Elysium and burnt Pluto to ash
Biting the roots of hawthorn trees
Clawing madly from Gaia's ravenous embrace
Arms trembling upward toward Ouranos's smiling face
His palms place novus stellae in my sockets
And silence saline cries on my breath
Of backhanded smiles and dolls on the front porch
His lips promise that my nightmares bleed
Killing Calliope was never part of the plan
But I could only breathe after planting her under perennial beds
The vines of her hair engulf what was once called home
So that I may steal away Gaia's husband
Where chalices of galaxies await me
Where Helios and Selina and moonlit chariots run,
Her blood, so that I may drink Eridanos
And my pain will birth new planets
YOU ARE READING
Drinking Eridanus
PoetryThis is a new collection of poems. Themes include depression, death, grief, trauma and mental illness. Read at your own discretion. Thank you!
