desire enters, parallel to the engine by Garth Graeper

ghosts had to kill my injured brother

he used to live here
and promised to return
after destroying that
girl he kept
seeing

*

out in the slippery elms
they killed us when we were kids
a ragged gash
with waves

apart
from the girl
in him, swimming
through us

*

going down
to hunt
and strain and turn
heavy with casualties

small children
in the blood
teeth and claws will never be
innocent

*

two minds, the stronger
one dreams

cedar, jack-oak
skunk-spruce

we’re tangled
with the same mad intent and dark
horns on our head

tangled, stained
and sweating

*

from order, strangeness
floods the empty island

we’re under a tide
of our own
name