Vortex

This night I dreamed
A thousand red tongues
licked like wet petals the contours of my skin.
Weaved in, frollicked, lingered. Langorous
over every pore, seeping dampness in.
And entered me from every side
Strange soft things,
Cold tongues hanging from a thousand unseen
panting mouths in dark.

This night I dreamed
a little black crow
Cawed at my belly, clawing with unformed foot
The wall of my womb. Blind eyes like beads
shining bright in dark, and a sharp beak wide open
Broke into piteous wail.
And my ears were pierced with cries
and my blood turned yellow, pale.
Then with twisted beak it ripped
my belly open, like a flower-

This same night I dreamt
that the sky had turned to water
And I lay on my back and opened
my mouth to suck it all in.
And the universe was spinning like a top,
and I its center; vortex of the whirlpool,
sucking in darkness- with the whole black sky in me
while the white stars looked on, pretending not to see.


(2012)