Photograph ©Brian Molyneaux (2004).

One stands on a creaking,
with October leaves

like cobra hoods

waltzing, wattled

parasols.

My eyes focus latrines—
a putrification is under way.

Warm bath of heart re-obtained,
to inhale, to be in the columnar density of

a warming that now

takes on global contours.

Leaves as reefs
birch-white with amber pink
lime-tinted

patches,

Atlas still

the molten under-yolk,

the sphincter of mayhem

Gorky breathed in
staring at gnats adrift,

grass entanglements,

entry

an ever-exiting bruise,

burst

flagellation of a pyre
drummed on by ants

possessed in elfin serenade.

Cockscomb and marigold are
thistled in

a graphite legacy
recalling Crane at Melville’s grave.

Monody of a line

picked up at Pech Merle.

The supped russet totality

eye-needled through.