23 – Sweat

The pills roll across my desk

gold tears of a translucent god

rare oil of rarer flowers

suspended in a mote of gold

rare flowers made into an

antidote for time’s relentless deluge

The note reads ‘I can do this’

‘this’ remaining undefined

to be used as needed

this is the past

here on my skin

my lost ambition

running down my sternum

these breathless

prayers to no god/dess

here, touch

for I weep everywhere

my tears

your ocean

the tide’s desire

to take us back

into its saline arms

force our confession

that all we know and are is but a

pause

between breaths

(July 2023)

[from the ongoing (and mainly unpublished) series Body of Work]