OPEN-BRAIN SURGERY

To Bury A Child.

To bury a child.

Such a

thing such a

thing such an

evil evil thing, to close the casket on a baby

with water still wet on the soft head

after all these many years

not really a baby

anymore had been someone's baby one day maybe even yesterday–

To keep a child close as close can be (under dirt) is

a foreign object lodged in your chest and throat

so you cannot scream "bring back my baby!" or even

"i won't let you take" or even

raise more than a wrinkled fist and crying flowers up from the ground

there is room only

for an empty. for a bottle-shaped-heart

crushed beneath drunken feet.

at least now you can't worry about losing what has already been

too lost.

but. still as

nothing is now that world's been flipped onto its blue-green candy skull

after the dust has swirled and the baby given its last cry

still a sinking ship, still a question remains:

where am i to go after this? to whom do i

come home to? in which direction do my compass bones

point? north, or south? over, or

under? i could only hope i stay

close to the clouds.