#tntpoems

[theonodus]

efa

gather-             ing myself i am [   ] i feel [   ]     i       am the space between words       the pause wait-                                ing to end by some affection of company     without an offer-                                ing save this [   ]   hollow    i only listen. wait. run. my mouth spill-         ing   nonsense to fill s p a c e       am i good    enough? i spill      b r e a t h s & d r e a m s         but   are you okay?       are you alright? are you happy   are you i   only    listen. wait. run. fill. i am [   ] i feel [   ]    [sorry]

[theonodus]

vresh

sense touch sight smell taste listen the madness is calculated.      words tinged with lightning crackling  on the tongue rope chains binding? body bound? laughter how can a storm be bottled? show me lightning pacified  thunder silenced i am not mad within me is the chaos of living.

[theonodus]

antlered sunlight splits the sky      is roots through stone through rock through concrete pierces in radiance     an oilthick brightness heavy-handed presence      i am here      it says carved its deliverance above above    around veins of gold inked into silver sheets       i am not rock i am not bone entombed the stone is cleaved and the air      is nettle and needle and ichor

[theonodus]

damp earthlight     soil like sky     brown-grey      people a procession of quiet worried ridges shadowing sunken      eyes    above is above is     below there is       safety in barriers turned like      a goldfish bowl     a shrinking bubble      seeping bubble     leaking waterairspacelife     safety is not leaving here     safety is   not wondering     here safety is     not here

[theonodus]

Valrith

this is winter breaking into spring the first blades of icy green rising again, piercing again. you, frost-tinged, with flora and snow laid beneath you. life. the mountain slicing sky holds red and bone as does the sea, as does the forest. we walk to our graves, that is truth. you are this: the setting of spring into winter, the emergence of winter to spring.

[theonodus]

valen

you are not such a heavy thing -- as dark or gloom but you are not light. in truth, do you know?

the eyes that held you     were shallow they hold you still, blank reflective gazes.

im sorry, you are un-     predictable.

like lightning on closed eyelids      the piercing muted white? grey? dark again.

for a moment     there are truths of you, retreating they are bound to come again.

[theonodus]

skamos

craggy cliff-side brine crashing up pointing -- there, Icarus fell, burned. sails writhing, glowing red-orange white and sinking as the torn skin of dead things. you: alone, a witness. and you the shadow of the body washed ashore, the sailor with ghosts borne on their tongue.

[theonodus]

eryn

barefoot daughter of earth you know the nature of erosion how boulder becomes rock and is worn to sand how the grand become diminished but do not disappear and you, with years passing, with time lapping as waves do not vanish but become, will not dwindle but will be. you, daughter of ground and sky, are nature and its continuity.