hell's hungry gaping mouth

hell’s hungry gaping mouth 
bids me come and so
I do 
and beyond the gilded altar
I fall—
spiraling sprawling crying crawling
thinking my way down
as arms and legs thrash
at emptiness all around
at desert water and
arctic flames and
a void that enfolds me
with unscented aromas and
unsung songs that
fill my head with nothing
nothing until
my desire for nothing grows
swallowed not in darkness
but in the unfulfilled promise of light
surrounded by the absence of
a thousand other souls
no gnashing of teeth
no teeth at all
just the familiar bite
of indifference

(November 2003)

26 December 2004

I recently came across a folder of poetry that I wrote years ago. In honor of National Poetry Month, I've decided to share some of those poems, just as they are. It's one thing to be unfinished, and quite another to be unheard.

The 26th of December Two Thousand Four 

our planet wobbled on its axis

when the earth quaked
thirty thousand meters below the ocean floor
sending a ripple in the water
that grew as it traveled
on a course it did not choose

hundreds of thousands died

half a million injured
and countless cried

while on the other side 
of this wobbling globe
we celebrated my daughter’s twenty-first birthday
at a quiet restaurant
where nothing quaked
but the ice in my glass.