THE HORRORS OF CHILDBIRTH

Just in time for Hallowe’en, a nightmare for no one — all and none.

NEMO

i’m a casket dancer
tapping out toe morse to the thirsty silence

i’m a scripture cougher
clearing out my lungs with this cheerful violence

i’m an organ caver
clawing through the black till i find the blood

i’m a spider walker
crawling through the ashes where the children stood

we don’t glow

move till you can’t feel

i’m a trembling coffin
cradling this fruit that has not yet ripened

i’m a pregnant orphan
basking in the boil of attention heightened

i’m a monk of the air
soaring through the glories of forgotten fevers

i’m a child of this earth
i frolic with the ribs and red dust of the ether

we don’t glow

move till you can’t feel