{Excerpt}

I communed with Death last night,

His fluidity, patient in pace,

tepid solstice breeze against the thin flesh of my throat,

waking me gently

I rolled within Him,

lush darkness of a new moon wood, just beyond the hedge,

coarse fingers spanning, trailing, leaning my head back

A fingertip of half-rot coaxing my eyelids open,

our stare a reminder of origins, our introduction

a reminiscing of lunar language, our seasonal progression

and I heard from deep within Him, every lyric I’ve ever connected with as an aria, a requiem of we

crescendo in variegated storm

He inhaled the nature of his pilgrimage,

moistening his lips of moth eaten linen,

invisible threads stitching us nearer, until our foreheads rested,

our thoughts channeled,

mine giving him reason to hold me closer, His giving me cause to bloom

…“I was angry…You didn’t claim me…all those times…you left me earthbound…lost in pain, grief, agony…abandoned, lost, betrayed…but now…the why?…I can see for myself your reasons…I finally see what eluded me…there’s a bounty of worth in my chaos…”

“I’m part of every cell that made you, every breath that sustains you…I’ve never once deviated…I’m not always in your direct, but I’m never out of your periphery…we are bound and inevitable…imperfectly infinite…and you’re chaos is a wild that reminds and emboldens the Dire, to break free of restraints when collared, to chew its own limb off when snared…I didn’t, because you would…you have…you…”

E.A. O'Connell. November 2018