The Exorcised Ghost of 'Howl'

Liquor running as blood with diamond platelets.
All hail to the morphine.
Legalized and war tested.
Works every time!
Time
That sonuvabitch!
Marching in heavy boots.
Leaving muddy tracks all over my life.

Chickadees

Children
Hungry bellies like boulders
Scrabbling peanuts in the dust
Licking lambs' blood from each others lips
Coupling in burned out shells of cars and storefronts
Clutching at coins and scrap metal
Walking with guns as tall
Ripped to shreds by shrapnel
Hiding behind momma's knee
Scratching at fleas
Aflame, inspired by the promise of bread.

Fire

I breathe fire and smoke.
Watch my skin flake away,
And the bones bleach white.
Hear the screams turn to cinder in my mouth.

Saucier

The copper tang licks at my pallet.
As the wine steams in the heat.
Islands of garlic and onion, surrounded by raging tides.
Dredging the ocean floor for bits of carbon.

Time

We are all orphaned by time.
The crisscrossed lines and endless gears.
Grinding away, inexorable.

With memory, we reach through the veil.
Clawing, scrabbling, Nosferatu fingers.
Stretching outward, bleeding.