the blood remembers
a day when night was
prayed for

the self-slaying foetus
falling out onto silent sidewalk
the man with one ear files his
nails with steel wool
and plays his kazoo through
toothless mouth

He throws his own nickels
into a found hat
and paints a smile on his
face with someone else’s
blood

This night will end
and therefore end badly

when the deaf monk screams
and eats his own tongue
you know you
know its time for a sponge bath in blood
christ is clean
we part in peace and agree
never to be seen again

and so it is written
and so it shall be

 

copyright2001 by Dustin Hansen