Everywhere Hurts

I do not know the music best suited for 

Persuading a sap-drained tree/to make 

Her leaves dance/to bring life to her bark. 

My drummer underwater complains of 

Shards that keep snatching away the 

Breath of his drum, and it’s my time to 

Sway my buttock to the rhythm coming 

From my mother’s green larynx, but my 

Drummer has embraced the wilderness. 

Everything i offer my love flashes matchsticks 

Right in my face/offers me smoke from a 

Charred copper spiraling in the sky. Every 

Human I untie from thirst leaves a shoal 

Of fishes, on the shore, supplicating for 

Breath/for uncontaminated water. Who 

Will tell the moon jelly of this ceaseless oil spill? 

If rain fills the air, in the stead of this flame 

That strangles my throat, we will all know what 

A rainbow looks like/what it means to see a light 

Amidst the sombrest weather. The caterpillars 

That make it through the burnt and blackened land 

Will transition into colourful butterflies. But right now; 

Everywhere hurts—the chainsaw carrier still smiles 

to the bank, guzzles liquor, and pees into the sea.