elegy for 2012

I need to cultivate a harm reduction strategy for my grief and ragebursts

We will waste water in the desert

Flashbacks to every previous family vacation

“Should I remove the extra place setting?”

And then there were three

I can take your criticism

Can I take your criticism?

the cadence was time back and forth beating

Certain spaces in the body resist more than others
no head for soldering
she told me my traps were on fire
my, what a swift coffin
fingertips brush silt, sift ash
the output resistance is infinite
clean burning we stoop to read entrails, gather embers, sifted
snow drifts
sustain, prolong
nylon tip, hi-hat
glint of silver in the snow
infinite folding, cloth over cloth
bones given back to the earth
burns itself out, reignates, smokes, sputters, tries again, flashing, more smoke, flames smaller, sputtering, reignites, oxygen suckled up or out, bursts of, bursts off, bursts on, lingua franca, who is the
speaker, tongues of flame, what cliche, how moved
who spoken
under duress, voltage gain, relight, burns out, drone strike
burns out, burns down, fans it own
flame, has it been two years yet, sometimes a fire is only a symbol, hackneyed, the dying fire, sprang open unannounced, kicked off, land of honey, bodies pile up in action thrillers, still smouldering, when is a corpse not a corpse, when it’s exquisite, carved marble, gilded ivory, hacked and left to die, glowing embers, post-traumatic stress disorder, meets or suprasses expectations, shows leadership, still glowing, strained metaphor, twisted shoulder, the dying sparks, rehydrated mushrooms, shelf life of certain spores….. folded over….