i made
a blanket fort
buried myself in it

more
a blanket tomb
a womb

a standing burial shroud

my own personal cahokia

we took a school trip there
long ago
underground

they turned off the lights

we screamed in childish delight

they turned on the spotlights

skeletons lay
illuminated
before us

i was enthralled

now i lay
enshrined
in

my own burial pit

here the skeletons don’t lie still

they whisper their lies into my freshly shaved skull

or are they my lies

repeated by spectres of love gone bad

who can say

at least

i am
not

alone