the acquisition of the baptist

the acquisition of the baptist
To-For Delmira Augustini

i weep over you. tears that rage against me. & you come into being. from an empty heaven. empty as the wind. on skin. we’ll never move out of. alarm.

between language and pain. no longer the word but the scream. signaling. in biology. stimulus response. projection in chaucer. and elsewhere. introjection. to slip into the Other. whosoever like a flower. wherein no relation is possible. but possession.

oh lord. your sin upon my body. the seat of the soul of release. the fornications of creation. before your face. and you alone are god. polluter of your sacred place.

i am thinking of a thought. closing like a wound. false thought rooted in life, devouring. almighty. but ever failing to blossom. this is the ultimate torture. to bear forever this torpid egg. wedged within. like a tooth.

but to dislodge this one day. whosoever like a flower. product and pure. to hold in my hand. the head of god. on a mirrored platter … there could be no greater gift.