dark kin

there’s a node on my soul
a tumor growing
dying to be whole

swelling seeking lesion leeching
clinging limpet cloning legionary cells
hiding leaking seeping weeping sores
a dark son rising inside the house
noir Apollo killing to be free from
sordid damp clinging swamp morass
moss and lichen fungus of sin
a rude fugue occludes my mood

dark kin born of nightly sin
growing at night, denied the light
gnawing at the door, sawing at the floor

try to fight but I can’t win. roar
of frustration as dark heart eludes
my grasp. slips through my fists
like smoke, wrapping around my
head like an unheard joke. my rage
feeds it. my pain needs it. my heart
sunders, a house divided, split level
one good earthquake away from ruin

I turn to face my reflection
sable manifestation, so well known
I am my dark kin. these sins are my own

embrace the surface of the mirror fiercely
cracks spread liquid ripples slip right
through. face to face with my visage made
of ebony and smoke, black flames smile
at some secret joke. that only I can hear
raven dark rushes over me in an instant
coated in coal breathing in soot. washed
clean, in dark sand. breathing in jet fumes

until my breath frosts my image
and only I look back at me. whole
knowing that my darkness is free