ah, how dark in the labyrinth!
i have lost my way
where
where are the great trees
the 3 azure lakes
ah,
the white tower shoots
erects itself
ah
ah, does it possess a bone?
a weeping eye?
have you
have you
tasted
the crimson jube
under its cursed hood?
have you tasted the darkness?
in the old kauri kitchen
the ceiling ran down to the floor
scrubbed white
pitted & veined
it rose in hillocks
sank
a rapacious stove
flamed
day & night
boiling water spurting
from a ravening spout
in summer we stood naked
before the open fire-door
fierce sun not enough to warm us
we craved
the naked flame
the eldest son raving
to an invisible audience
leaned too close to the oven door
oblivious as numbers burnt
into his arm
the high-backed
holey tin tub
stood
as if on a stage
water leaking
rapidly into soapy rivers
they cried out continuously
for more hot water
precariously pitching from kettle's spout
along the peeling wall
ran a hard narrow seat
its broken springs
prodding flesh
i sat for hours
the sons suckling
running lead bulldozers
over my naked body
mapped by apocalyptic
births
deaths
as they sucked
they attempted to open doors
lead bulldozers
crashing onto
startled mound
in open window
eucalyptus trees
lifted their arms
to the sky
bark falling
in reels
of pink flesh