familiar

rest you, demon--rest in me

and curl your claws in my muscles

let fear lie gentle in my veins

--I have heard you rustling

in the bushes

I have seen your ambling

shadow

amble with me

we go together, demon

--where the world is wild

we are walking

through hell

under the trees

stretch, lazy

and rest your fur

in my arms

for you, dim flashing eyes

and your loose-knit bones

I have made a place

of dust and shade

in me

you (ii)

if I never touch you--

still the air drawn

out of my lungs

folded on my tongue

and launched in your direction

is the cool breeze

gusting in the corridors

of my soul

and swirling in the corners

---

you, who bring me mountains

by proxy

who are the shape of the shadow

hanging deep

in the dusty arroyos

you--are the saving of myself

Do you suppose...

...I'm having a nervous breakdown? Because I... rather think I am.

---

silence
and also in your head
car
rumbles, in the empty street
must be the only thing living
when you fade
into
the bone
of your own skull
and your skull into the
trees
when you are skating
across the glass of you pupils

if you left
the desks and windows
of your days
would the sidewalks
become unfamiliar?

and once, below the windows
of the day--emancipated
I saw
a truth, felt it
blow over my skin

which is deadened now
and I see nothing but empty light