By Taylor Drake

I wrote this one with blood stained 
hands, where the ink begins 
and my own claret ends, I can't say.  
A stone mason's hammer swipes
away at my frontal lobe. Every few 
minutes the friction bears a lowly glint 
and the scenario replays. 
This tattered screen opens
with a static watermark 
strolling to the dwarfed lights. 
The shrill moans of hell 
could be heard, through this 
homestead in a blaze. 
Wood splits and mangles 
like bones under permafrost. 
Idle molecules of lint 
recant involvement on this
arid dimension. Meanwhile, 
the fire plays silent to a 
saint vow. If only 15 feet high 
flames didn't leave a great tell. 
These enigmatic badlands 
wash away the shell casings 
I limp past. A melody wadded 
down from the moon. The tissue
around my wounds frosted over.
I stagger through subdued pain
while fleeing the scene. 
The ember I write this on is starved to the bone. I left it on the stoop. 

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