THREE ANIMALS
in the matted glen
under a sky grey as nails
i knelt next to the open mouth
to the body i laid my lips
i sought to taste
the strangeness of dying
i sought to see
what the eyes
of deadmilk
did see
in the purgatory of time,
i gagged for a vision
the dark wood glowed
like the orange coils of
an electric lantern
like a coal
deep red
in its waning