the hot fetid breath
on the back of my neck
cracked black teeth
tearing ragged strips
of fevered bloody flesh
an insanity of chaotic
dentata denada in feral
regala traumatically
reviled in nauseous lies

the scars on my forearms
from playing tic tac toe
with thanatos to a draw
into infinity on the head
of the used needles slipped
from his skeletal grip into
collapsed veins with an
acidic drip taken straight
from god’s divine disdain

the bleating sheep driven
screaming down the uneven
slaughterhouse hallways
panicked lullabys to mute
this affliction of perverse
sleeping sickness in a fugue
of nightmare syncopations
scribbling on the padded
walls in blackened blood

i cannot tell if this is
home if this is hell if this
is anything more than the
lost cries of the dead child
scratching beneath my papery
flesh in tiny visages of
silvery linings beguiling
the swarming stormfronts as
night crashes headlong to hope