Today’s slurs are like stagnant water

Welled up in my skull,

Like the full weight of ruin  

From a landslide’s fury  

–

Like an infernal melody

Leagues under my skin,

Leaving villages of sonnets

To sink away in ashes  

–

These fire-tinged lies  

Were set long ago,  

From a fellow voice adrift

In a mire of their design

 –

These words cannot belong

Encaged in either body

Or afloat in the ether

Seeking worlds to dissolve