i slept
falling into
the depths
of my own
dingy darkness
a free diver
lungs shrunk
to the size
of quarters
as i was
forced to
plumb the
schismatic
ruptures within
my own
subnautical
subconscious
waking every
two hours
gasping for
sweet oxygen
fresh bruising
all along my
tender failings
hot briny tears
obscuring the
calm sanctity
in sweat stained
irredeemable
rancid reverie
sloughing through
the sewers
where every
indecency is
repressed in
stained glass
montages of misery
stomping across
the thin ice
to bathe in the
frigid waters
of deluded hope
each awakening
leaving me
more exhausted
than the
previous dip
until the
yellow light
drenched my
shrunken body
contorted into
knotted denials
on an empty bed
of salacious desire
i slept
yet never felt
so tired
as when i
found myself
awake in hell
embraced by
the emptiness
gurgling through
my hollow frame