The Nameless Deep

the roar in my bones won't settle
keep your summons
the tolling of the deep deafens all language
throbbing through me
opening the ocean in my womb
crashing thunder through my heart
wrenching the salt in my veins
like it possesses it, like it has the right

distraught i flee for safety
where the water meets the sky
where i can call the lightning down
where i can shred the veil and yank the behemoth-phoenix through
where i can command the elements
the universe forgot
i can raise an army with my voice
and just my voice

my blood rushes through my driven feet
eager for earth and kisses the sea
exploding in electricity
incinerating my core
and charring the air itself
the warning of the beast

caught between
Death and the Abyss
the maelstrom dips
howling--leeching the world of colour, resonance
stealing off the bones every morsel left
till distraction died spitting blood on my feet
till distraction became all of me
till there was nothing left
but me
and the nameless deep

caught between
Death and the Abyss
i am scoured of skin
stripped to bone
and left raw and bleeding--light
the canyon below me swallows every known thing
pulling me tight as i split
rupture from within
as the salt snaps free with magnetic strength
losing myself
i am lifted up
in poseidon's palm

they lied--they lied--
i was beautiful
i could stop hearts with a glance
i was alien
i could unnerve armies
i was a god
and the first prey i drew--
an incarnation of nature, not a man

they lied--they lied--
but what could mortals decide
in the blasphemy of witnessing
you
surging over me, lapping, devouring
the blood red tide
the violence sweeter than the catastrophe of the summer heavens
you
plunging through me
the storm lord firing and firing
the hurricane leaving the coast devastated and panting
stunned by the force
collapsed by the passion

they lied--they lied--the fools--
not the Ocean:       Vibration
through earth through water through air
the best conduit none of these
but the flitting thing
the Changling Prince of Thieves
the Chimera of Possibility
Forbidden Daughter of the SoulFather

and nownownow--now----now------NOW---NOWNOWNOWNOW--N-O-W:

I AM SPEECH I AM SOUND I AM LIGHT
my throat opens and pearls spray out
(you smelt to my spine as the sun pours from my eyes and whisper)
turn them to stone
i am Complete-i am Complete-i am Complete
and i shatter into light

forgive me prometheus
i was not meant for the sun
i was created to writhe
for what i feel through my scales and the heat
sight meant little to me

take my head if you must perseus
my blood will still give birth to poetry: pegasus
mark the bones and blood staining the rocks
the debris between you and me
the siren cannot help but devour the weak
you are too tender to survive the wildness of me
the snake-haired maiden cannot help but allow the gleaming truth to crush her
and take it, take it, every blow delivered with love
lilith must leave the Garden
to become the Serpent Queen

i feel him
coming to me
beneath my feet
in the howl of the wind
in the waves before me
slow
to make me salivate
but the promise is already complete
sealed in oil and sacred flame
no force of heaven or earth could cleave
as intertwined as life: close as breath and pulse

before you try to slip
elusive, back to the mystery
i must drink deep