identifying marks

scrawled in cruor,

etched in hide,

riven up the ventral side.

earned in furor,
lost in fear,
balanced as the inner ear.

vaporous

whisper in and wade
this blurred and whirring fog,

lazing haze pervades
this slurred and purring bog.

blue liqueur

no ebbing star will tire my eyes,
nor surging lunar face,
no raw or rotting static skies;
my brow
unfurls
into space.

the furrowee

the gut-deep drainage ruts
in which
his neurons had been stuck
were stitched
and crosshatched by
the aggressive tread
the flocking heels,
he holds his head,
the motorized, queasing, rubber wheels,
his field is tilled and spread.

Joining the Hird

even as he skinned his first young deer, he held hope
for the day he'd wear a wolf's pelt into war.

even as he stained his chicken skin with char and tallow,
even as he smeared his dirty face with curing sapo.

even as he grinned and skinned his first grey wolf, he hoped
for the day he'd wear a bear's pelt into war.

several familiesworth

a lone cold bone amongst brush
slow to roast, slow to blush
the crunch and lingering still of a crush/

tonguing my cud
slobber and gravel, a cheek of mud
baldfaced boulders, mountainous molars
the scent of menstrual blood/

a winding height along the lake
a silent white meridian wake
stretching away at the polars.