The Emperor's Lunch

pain     pain    nonstop urgency
goat demons hang from grey hairs     in my nose
a blue dragon flew into one of my ears
bamboo grows inside my legs
my ankles grow steel traps around them
on cold nights my knees hurt
hair grows on my back like an animal’s
i have always treated you as an abstraction

how do you do?
so glad to meet you
have you suffered yet?
would you like to take a course in it?
i would too
but all the teachers are busy

no grey hair died yesterday an hour ago
and i wake up every morning for the emperor’s lunch
there is no mystery to focus on imagine the hour
and entire countries of in my blood seems it’s always been
the knife being invisible
the french toast sunrise horizon
awake!                      awake! 
do it!

from Oedipus' First Lover (2009)