Odyssey

Into the folds
of endless appetites
I’ve tucked
some yellow cheese, raw
barley & green honey, two kinds
of acorns & the fruit
of the cornel tree, dark
at its root
with a flower-like milk.
This black ship,
fluid in wind, baggy
& blown about
its mid-life seas. Love,
that faithful canine at the gate
dropping its ears
as time, the only master, passes.
Twenty five years, Argos.
I’ve come this far
to find you
and like all beloved things, knife
my eyes open wide
and watch you shatter, tissue clouds
& funeral cake
crashing down, sugar
& tears, my shrouds
for dead soil.
The place I put my mouth to next
and dig, ravenous.
The only way to forget.
To grow the past
a new head of joy. Lord knows
I’ve stuck mine so far into muck, I barely
breathe anymore.
The only way I’ve learned
to lick bitter waters
riding a violent seas home.
This map
made of gold, pinned
close to me and bloody
with monsters.
I call it my life.

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