Milk in the Basin

blue discs in the funnel. consumed by the vacuum of the darkness. bright ropes. flaunt the choke. suffocating. caught on each other. moments bleed into years. the clench of trust. bruises. stiffens. drowns her. in so much hope.

choices whisper. distant nightmares in a stupor of if. the slope. the relentless downward. running. slipping. churning. the high betrays. and we are stones. the density of the water a fitting coffin. the slither of the sun through its rippled surface a heady grin. that laughs silently as we sink.

her breathing plays a stern anthem on my cheek. I see us small. From a great distance. Tired flies come to rest on a broad flame. Hunted by the bigger beasts that can see its edges.

All of us dwarfed by a common enemy.

her flesh is pinwheels. her lips are sand. the wind of her words presses the grit of their colors into my stare. i cannot see. but i listen. for the auction. cold numbers. simple obedience. politics resonating people. like the steady hum of power through an electrified fence.

all of us trapped.