Shroud - Starkweather

Spent years deadening my nerves Turn violence inward Rise to the sight

Grey industrial haze shroud over the city Resign rationale for

Reptilian calm All frustrations mount and spiral Anneal my animus

Slavering teeth rake venom from my tongue Dredge up far reaching

Horrors Suffer patiently Invite infection to nourish the cancer

Unparalleled extremes Enter, if you will, virgin territory No comfort

Here inside this, the bleak house Darkness absolute A pure form

Imitation of life Room antiseptic white, blank expressionless Sliding

Hands across the plaster Feel for faults and fractures My head

Swimming in circles Floating endless slipstream Body salamander slick

Shriveled as a newborn Vigor wrenched out in pools of salt water

Ground to a halt Beat of life pulsing intermittently vacillating —

Indecisive Sliding hands across the plaster Feel for faults and

Fractures Breathe deep the frigid air Cough on the numbing sting of

Sleeps pins and needles It’s like swallowing razors Jagged pieces of

Glass and steel Stare into the sun with frozen open eyes Searching for

A simple diversion Self-induced sense deprivation Stare into the sun

With frozen open eyes Stare into the sun with frozen open eyes

Icicles form in the furrows of my brows Sub-zero and sweating Stare

Into the sun Frozen open eyes